A Family Affair
by freyh985
Summary: Callie has remained invisible at Spenser since Freshman year and she's fine with that. But what happens when bad boy Reid Garwin comes into her life, along with an enemy that may have some personal connection to her that she never knew about?
1. Welcome Back

(Callie's POV)

My alarm clock sounded in my ear, playing "Someone like you" by Safetysuit, my favorite band, waking me up from my less than pleasant sleep. I was actually kind of grateful to be waking up, able to get away from the nightmares that haunted me while I slept.

I wasn't sure why I had been having nightmares and most of the time it was just me, stranded in the middle of the woods with nowhere to go. I couldn't find my way out and every time I tried, I just got even more lost. Just as I thought I'd be getting somewhere, something would stop me and I would wake up in a dead sweat, trying to comprehend.

This morning was the same as the others, although the only difference was that I had to get up and got to classes. It was the first day of the fall semester at Spenser Academy in Ipswich, Massachusetts and it was my senior year. I'd attended Spenser since I was a freshman and it hadn't changed much in the four years I'd spent there.

My Dad was in the military and I hardly ever saw him. During the summer and winter seasons when the students were sent back home from the school, I went home to the empty house in Vermont with a few housekeepers and that was all. My mother had died when I was seven and my father rarely ever came home, he was some big-wig in the Air Force and I was pretty positive that he'd never really wanted a kid in the first place, hence why he was never around.

I got up out of my bed, kicking the covers off and standing up. I was glad that my father paid the extra tuition money for me to have a single room all to myself, complete with a personal bathroom as well – it was literally the greatest thing ever. Pulling off the t-shirt I'd slept in last night, I headed to the bathroom to shower.

Once I was cleaned and smelling fresh, I went back into my room and found my uniform hanging up in my closet. I pulled on the pleated plain gray skirt and the white button-up shirt, tucking it in and buttoning it up, then pulled on the navy blue jacket and red tie. God, they were hideous and I hated everything about them, but they had to be worn.

I brushed out my brown hair and left it down to dry in natural waves. I didn't put on any makeup, as usual and only sprayed myself a bit with some perfume. The clock read quarter after seven and I was starving. Classes didn't start until eight so I figured I had time to go grab breakfast at the dining hall before the first class. I slipped on my Sperry's over the navy blue, knee high socks, grabbed my book bag and headed for the door, locking it behind me.

The dining hall wasn't as packed as I thought it would be on the first day of classes, but I didn't mind. I toasted my bagel, spread some cream cheese on it, grabbed a cup of coffee and found a secluded table next to the window Of course, it was raining. It seemed that was all it ever did here in Ipswich. I sat, picking at my food while watching the rain fall outside.

There was a commotion coming from the entrance of the dining hall and I turned my face to see what it was. Of course, I should have already known. The Sons of Ipswich had just walked through the doors.

The four Sons were the most popular guys in school, their parents were the four richest families in town and had been here for three centuries. Let's just say that they got pretty much whatever they wanted, girls included. It didn't surprise me though; they were all incredibly good looking.

The Sons of Ipswich: Caleb Danvers, Pogue Parry, Tyler Simms and of course, Mr. Ladies-Man himself, Reid Garwin. I rolled my eyes as I watched them glide into the hall, turning all heads as they walked to get their breakfast. A brunette girl with dark skin ran up to Pogue, kissing him on the cheek and holding onto his arm. I was pretty sure that was his long-time girlfriend….what was her name? Kate?

It amazed me the way that people treated those four boys. As soon as they walked into any room is was as if the whole royal family was present. Girls fell at their feet and teachers treated them differently, even if they tried to hide it, everyone still knew that they were afraid of them and their families.

I'd never really talked to any of them and I didn't really have much desire to either. They all seemed to think they were better than everyone else and I wasn't really interested in befriending people like that. I really only had two good friends at this school, Hannah and Matt. They'd been my friends since we were freshman and they were really all I had here. Matt was this level-headed guy who always thought things through and hated to party and hated the sons of Ipswich even more. Meanwhile, Hannah was completely obsessed with them, Tyler Simms especially.

I was in between. I wasn't obsessed with the guys but I didn't hate them like Matt did. He said "They just think that they're better than everyone else and deserve to be able to walk all over people all the time" which I thought was pretty true, but I didn't hate them. Although Reid may have been the exception. They'd never done anything to me. I was pretty sure I'd never even spoken to any of them before and they didn't even know I existed. I didn't mind, I liked going unnoticed. It's worked the last three years and I was positive this year wasn't going to be any different.

I walked to my first class, English Literature and took a seat off to the side, making sure to save a seat on either side of me for Matt and Hannah because I knew that this was the only class I had with them in the morning then we had another one together at the end of the day.

The whole room went silent and I looked up at the door to see the four God-like boys walk in, Pogue with the dark haired girl in tow behind him. As much as I hated to admit it, they really were all gorgeous. They were the star swimmers at Spenser and had incredible bodies that were evident even under the white collared shirts and the blue dress jackets. They all had dark hair except for one and he happened to be the biggest asshole of them all.

Reid Garwin.

He was the 'bad boy' of the group and definitely the biggest man-whore in school. I couldn't even begin to count how many girls he's slept with and it was only for sex. He'd never been in a relationship; he just took girls out, had sex with them then moved on to the next. Every girl in school knew this, yet they still lined up to be with him, knowing what would happen in the long run.

I rolled my eyes. He really thought that his shit didn't stink. They walked up the stairs and I knew I was staring but I couldn't bring myself to look away. As much as I knew he was a player, he was still really something to look at. His blonde hair hung down to his ears and fell to his eyebrows in front of his face and his dark blue eyes were mesmerizing. His muscles were evident through his layers and he had a smirk on his face that was both attractive and annoying at the same time.

I was just about to look away when his eyes flickered to mine, catching me staring. My eyes widened and my heart stopped. I knew his eyes were blue, but I didn't know they were that….beautiful. God, he was gorgeous.

He knew I had been staring; he had to have because he just grinned smugly and winked at me. I scowled and tore my gaze away, looking down at my notebook. Yes, he was definitely a huge douchebag.

Hannah and Matt walked in then and found me and took their seats next to me.

"Welcome back," Matt droned, pushing his black hair out of his eyes. It was so shiny all the time and I wondered how he always made it like that.

I smiled and nudged him with my shoulder. "It's not that bad."

Hannah squeaked. "Oh my God, all four of the Sons are in this class with us guys!" she held her hands together in front of her face. "Thank you!" she said up into the air.

I rolled my eyes. "You're ridiculous, Hannah, you know that?"

She just smiled at me. "I am not! You cannot tell me that you're not the least bit excited that they're going to be some of the first people we see in the morning."

I shrugged. "I really don't care."

Matt leaned over in front of me to look at Hannah. "Because she's not an idiot and knows that they're all arrogant assholes who only care about themselves."

Hannah scowled at him. "I'm not an idiot. Any girl who isn't an idiot would be acting the same way. Callie's just weird."

I laughed at her. This was how it always was between the two of them. We were all best friends but it always seemed like Hannah and Matt could never get along and were always fighting with each other about the dumbest things.

"I do think they're cute, but I'm not a stalker like you are," I shot back at her and she punched me in the arm playfully as the teacher walked in, silencing the room.

"Good morning everyone and welcome back," he said looking up at us, seeming uninterested. "I'm sure you're all thrilled to be here."

The class groaned in agreement.

Mr. Simpson chuckled and walked around to the board and started writing the curriculum down and I sighed, taking out my pen and notebook and started taking notes.

Welcome back.

* * *

The morning went slow and I sat through my classes in a bore, taking notes when needed and trying not to fall asleep. Why was I so tired? Damn nightmares.

I noticed that in every one of my classes I had at least one of the Sons. Reid was actually in most of them. I had three classes in the morning before lunch and he was in all of them. I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or if he was doing it on purpose, but whenever he walked by me to his seat, he would look at me and I would hold his gaze, just as I did in English.

I mentally shunned myself. I shouldn't be looking at him. He wasn't my type and even if he was, I definitely didn't want anything to do with him.

Lunch finally rolled around and I took my usual place at my usual table with Matt and Hannah. It made me happy to see them sitting around me again, it felt like old times.

"Oh my God, Tyler and Pogue are both in my Philosophy class right before this!" Hannah cried, fanning herself. "I think I died and went to heaven."

I laughed and shook my head in amazement at her.

"You're pathetic," Matt told her, taking a bite of his pizza.

"Shut up, Matt," Hannah hissed. "Just because you're jealous of them doesn't mean you have to be mean to me."

Matt scoffed. "I sure as hell am _not_ jealous of those fags," he shot back at her and she rolled her eyes.

"They're far from fags, trust me," said Hannah, picking at her salad.

I sighed. "Will you guys stop bickering for three seconds? We haven't seen each other all summer and we've barely been around each other for more than a few hours and you're already going at it like dogs."

"He started it," Hannah informed at the exact same time that Matt said, "She started it."

I laughed and took a bite of my pizza. Hannah's phone buzzed and she took it out quickly, reading the text message.

"Oh!" she squealed, making me jump. "There's a party at the Dells tonight!" she said happily, looking right at me.

"Awesome," both Matt and I mumbled and I snickered.

Hannah scoffed. "You guys are such party poopers," she said, putting her cell phone back in her purse. She looked back at me, looking at my with her stupid puppy-dog eyes that always made me give in.

I knew exactly what she was doing. "No, no, absolutely not," I told her, holding my hands up.

"Oh come on, Callie, please!" she cried, grabbing my hands and holding them. "Please come with me!"

I shook my head. "No."

"Cal, we never do anything fun!"

"That's because the last time I went to the Dells with you, you left me there and I had to get a ride home with Andy Zenger!" I accused, raising my eyebrows at her. That kid was gross and smelled like old cheese.

She sighed impatiently. "I told you! I thought you said that you were going home with him anyways. You were all over him that night."

"I most certainly was not. That pervert couldn't keep his hands to himself," I told her, rolling my eyes. "I'm not going."

"Come on, Callie. It's our senior year, let's have some fun. Please!" my best friend begged.

I sighed. A part of me did want to go. As much as I hated to admit it, the last time I went to the Dells had been pretty fun before Andy decided to take a liking to me. It was this secluded beach that no one really knew about and was hidden by a mountain complete with a bunch of bonfires and music and dancing. It was a rare occasion that cops showed up and everybody usually drank enough to get smashed.

My best friend was looking at me, pleading with me. I knew I had to go with her. She was right. This was our senior year and I shouldn't miss out on any more experiences.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Fine, I'll go. But if you leave me there again I swear to God Hannah, I'll kill you," I threatened.

She squealed in victory. "Yay!" she clapped. "I'll come over to your room at eight to get ready!"

I rolled my eyes and sat back in my seat, Matt glaring at me with a look of annoyance.

"Don't you dare," I hissed at him and he just sighed.

The rest of the day passed by quickly and I was grateful when the last bell finally rang and I headed up to my dorm room, ready to take a nap. I had just rounded the corner to head down the hallway when I ran into a hard body and would have fell backwards onto my ass if the hands hadn't reached out to steady me.

I looked up, pushing my hair out of my face to see that it was Reid Garwin that I had run into.

I sighed. "Forget how to walk?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

He smirked. "I'm pretty sure that you ran into me," he said, raising his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Just because you think you own the school doesn't mean that you can just walk into people without apologizing," I hissed at him.

His brow furrowed. "And just because you think that you're smarter than I am does not mean that you can be rude to me."

I blinked, wondering if he was actually being serious or not.

"I'm not being rude!"

He smirked and I just rolled my eyes at him again. "Whatever," I said and went to walk by him at the same time he did and we both moved in the same direction, stepping in each other's paths. We tried again, moving the same way again. He chuckled and reached out and put his arms on my shoulders again and stepped around me while holding me in place.

"See you around, sweetheart," he said, not turning back to look at me.

I scowled at his back and went to my room, trying to get Reid off of my mind. Stupid asshole. I shrugged off my uniform and put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and climbed into my bed, finding sleep in no time.


	2. Chemicals Collide

A/N: I've got 5 chapters of this story already written and I'm working on the 6th right now, but before I got posting anymore I want to see if it's actually going to get read. This is my first multi-chapter fanfic so I'm not sure how great it's going to be and I'm still trying to think about where it's going to end up going. I welcome reviews and suggestions!

Anyway, here's the 2nd chapter. Most of the titles of my chapters are titles of songs that I was listening to while writing, including this one. Title of this chapter is from the Boys Like Girls song "Chemicals Collide" just in case anyone wants to listen to it while reading. If not then oh well.

Enjoy!

* * *

(Callie's POV)

I was in the middle of another nightmare when the banging began at my door. I groaned, not wanting to get up.

"Callie! Let me in now!" I heard Hannah yelling from the other side. "Come on, if we don't start getting ready now, we're going to be late!"

"Go without me!" I yelled back to her, shoving my face back in my pillow.

"Callie Elizabeth Fletcher, you open this door right now!"

I let out a long, annoyed groan and pushed myself off of the bed and walked to the door. Hannah was standing with her arms crossed over her chest when I opened it, tapping her foot impatiently. She was already dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a red sequined top with a black cardigan over it. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and parts of her bangs fell to the sides. She had on too much makeup for my liking, but I didn't complain

"You are literally impossible," she said, taking note to how I looked.

I smirked at her. "Maybe I'm not fit to go out tonight."

"Yeah right, nice try," she laughed, grabbing my shoulders and turning me around and pushing me back into my room. She pushed me down in my desk chair and pulled the hair tie out of my hair and let it fall around my neck. "God, where is your brush?"

I told her and she proceeded to brush out the tangled mess that was my hair. When she was done, she wet it down and brushed it again and left it down. My hair was actually kind of pretty when it was just left to curl naturally. She went to my makeup next and I only allowed her to give me some mascara and a skin-toned color eye shadow.

"I guess that will have to do," she told me, fluffing my hair one more time before heading towards my closet. She pulled out my favorite pair of skinny jeans and threw them to me and I shrugged out of my sweats and pulled on my jeans. They hugged perfectly to my curves and made my ass look really good despite my petite figure, although I wasn't sure who I was planning on impressing…

She threw me a purple V-neck t-shirt and a black leather jacket and I pulled them both on too.

"What about shoes?" I teased and she grabbed my black combat boots – for which I was grateful – and I sat down on my bed and pulled them on and laced them up. I felt better now that she had given me some comfy clothes and I looked at the time. It had taken about an hour for her to fix me up and it was now nine. It took around half an hour to get to the Dells and the party was probably already in full swing.

"I think that should do it," Hannah said, looking me over one more time. She seemed satisfied and grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. I locked up and stuffed my key into my jacket pocket and followed Hannah downstairs. She was practically running to her car.

"Hannah, the Dells aren't going anywhere. We have plenty of time," I told her, trying to keep up pace with her.

She looked back to glare at me. "We don't want to be the last ones at the party," she clipped and kept walking.

I sighed and caught sight of a car pulling out of the parking lot. It was a huge black hummer and I knew that it was Tyler Simms and that the car probably contained the rest of the Sons of Ipswich. And they were most likely going to the party at the Dells – of course.

I slid into the passenger seat of Hannah's beat up car and the engine roared to life. As we pulled out of the parking lot, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The text was from Matt.

To: Callie Fletcher

From: Matt Rivers (9:12PM)

_Are you in your dorm?_

I sighed and texted him back, knowing he was mad at me for going with Hannah. Matt was the type of person who really didn't like people who followed the norm and I usually didn't but going to the Dells was fun and I wished he would go with us at least once, but I knew I'd never convince him.

To: Matt Rivers

From: Callie Fletcher (9:13PM)

_No, I'm on my way to the Dells with Hannah._

To: Callie Fletcher

From: Matt Rivers (9:15PM)

_You actually went with her? _

I groaned and rolled my eyes to myself. He was impossible and never wanted me to do anything but hang out with him all the time, which I did. But sometimes I thought that he would think that we were something more than what we are and I definitely didn't want to be that with him. Matt was my best friend and I thought of him as a brother and I was afraid that he thought of me as something more which was why I liked to distance myself from him every now and again.

To: Matt Rivers

From: Callie Fletcher (9:18PM)

_It was my choice, Matt. It will be fine and we'll have fun. Maybe you should try it sometime._

To: Callie Fletcher

From: Matt Rivers (9:18PM)

_I know how to have fun but it doesn't involve being around selfish assholes and stuck up bitches. _

I rolled my eyes and texted back furiously. He was not going to make me feel bad about going tonight. No way in hell.

To: Matt Rivers

From: Callie Fletcher (9:20PM)

_Just because you want to sit home and do nothing all the time doesn't mean that I have to, Matt. You're not the boss of me nor can you control me so just leave me alone if you're going to act like this. Bye. _

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, not going to answer another one of his text messages until he stopped acting like a jerk.

"You okay?" Hannah asked, glancing over at me to see me slamming myself furiously.

I sighed. "Yeah, Matt's just being an idiot."

She laughed. "Obviously, he is one remember?" she said and we both laughed as she continued driving down to the secluded beach.

I could see the bonfires already going through the trees and hear the music loud and clear. The party was in full swing and Hannah parked her car and we both got out and followed the sound. There were at least a hundred people there, the party was huge. Crowds of them were dancing to the music, others were standing around the fire drinking their drinks and talking. There were a couple games of beer pong going on and a table set up for anyone who wanted to play cards.

Wow, this party was insane. I was suddenly very happy that we had come.

I followed Hannah over to the keg and she poured us both a drink. She noticed me eyeing the pong table and she smiled.

"Wanna go call next game?" she asked. I nodded happily and we walked across the sand to the table. I wasn't surprised to see Reid and Tyler at one end and two other guys at the other end. Reid and Tyler were winning by four cups and the other guys could barely hit anything and had only made one. "Who has next game?" Hannah asked, smiling at Reid and Tyler

Both boys looked up and Reid's gaze went directly to mine and I bit my lip. I hated when he looked at me, it made me feel so incredibly uncomfortable but….it also felt….right.

"You two," Tyler said, nodding at Hannah and flashing a marvelous grin. I knew she nearly fainted.

"Great," I mumbled and we stepped back from the table, sipping our drinks. I knew I had to finish it before we started playing because the cups were full of beer and by the time Reid sank the ball into the last cup, I was choking down the last sip of my beer.

"Better luck next time boys!" Tyler chanted and Reid grinned triumphantly as the two boys left the table. "Ladies you're up."

"Prepare to lose," Hannah teased, looking at Tyler who laughed.

"Yeah we'll see about that. I bet you two don't even make a cup."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Are you serious?"

Tyler just shrugged and Reid crossed his arms over his chest and I finally got a good look at what he was wearing. He had on a black jacket that had a red hood and a white t-shirt underneath. His hands were covered by black, fingerless gloves. His jeans were dark and he had a black belt holding them up and his hair fell in front of his face in that way and on his feet he wore black converse.

He seriously was the hottest guy I'd ever seen and I knew I'd thought about it before, but for some reason, I actually took more notice to it now.

Reid must have caught me staring because he smirked at me and then shrugged his shoulders. "You two don't stand a chance."

I scoffed. "You just wait; I bet we end your winning streak."

Reid raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so we're taking bets now?"

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Why don't we make a bet then?"

I glared at him, knowing full well not to fall for his stupid tricks.

"Okay!" Hannah cooed next to me.

I whirled on her and grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

She smiled at me and made those eyes. "Come on, Cal, it'll be fun," she said and then turned back to the boys. "What are the terms?"

Reid pursed his lips. "If you win, we'll go jump in the water…..naked," he suggested and I grinned, liking that term. It was September and the water was starting to cool and would no doubt would be cold on their naked skin. "But if we win….then we switch partners for the rest of the night."

My brow furrowed and I looked at him funny. "What do you mean?"

Reid smirked. "I mean, that when Tyler and I win this game, you become my partner, and your friend there, becomes Tyler's."

My eyes widened. Was he serious? Why would he want to be my partner? I was suddenly very worried because there was a very strong chance that Hannah and I were going to lose. She sucked at beer pong and I wasn't even buzzing yet which meant I wasn't going to be as good either.

"Deal!" Hannah squealed and I knew it was because she'd get to spend time with Tyler. She was probably going to purposely throw the game for us now.

Tyler nodded. "Sounds fair to me," he said and set up the cups and I did the same with ours. "What are your names?"

"I'm Hannah and this is Callie," said my friend from beside me and the game began.

Reid and Tyler both made their first shots and we had to give the balls back to them. I picked up my cup and sipped it quickly, knowing what would happen if they shot it into the cup while there was still beer in it. Tyler missed his next shot but Reid made his.

"Heating up," he said with an arrogant smirk and I rolled my eyes and finished my first cup, then downed the second one.

Hannah shot first and of course, she missed. I took a deep breath and focused on the shot. "Front cup," I called and then threw the ping pong ball. Splash, into the front cup, meaning they had to take two cups and give me the ball back. I shot again and missed unfortunately.

Tyler missed his next shot and Reid made his and I took the cup and drank it. Hannah was still working on her first cup and I knew this wasn't going to be good if I didn't start making her drink some.

"On fire," Reid said and I gave him back his ball. He shot and missed.

And so the game went on like that, back and forth. I was basically carrying the team but made sure to give Hannah the same amount of drink as I had. I was actually having a blast and every now and then I'd look up to see Reid looking back at me.

Finally, Tyler and Reid were down to their last cup and we still had three more left. Tyler shot and the ball just barely bounced off the side. I caught it quickly and handed it to Hannah.

"Hello new partner," Reid said and then kissed the ball. He shot it and of course, it went right into the cup. The two boys cheered and high fived each other while I sighed, now we had to make all three cups in order to go into overtime.

"Give us a comeback trail," I told them and they lined the cups up in a straight line. "Hannah, go," I ordered and she did, but she had been cheating for them all night and the ball didn't even come close to the line of cups.

"Oops," she said and giggled. Tyler laughed playfully at her.

"It's okay, you almost had it," he told her.

I rolled my eyes and aimed for my shot. Splash, into the first cup and Reid rolled it back to me. I took another deep breath and shot again. Splash, into the back cup and I heard Hannah groan next to me. Reid took the ball out of the cup very slowly, the whole time never taking his eyes off of mine. He rolled it back across the table to me and downed the beer in the cup.

I licked my lips. Part of me wanted to miss just so that I could be partners with Reid. I was pretty sure that we would kill everybody. But the other part, an even bigger part of me, wanted to win just so I could rub it in face.

I shot the ball slowly and prayed to God it went in.

Apparently, God wasn't listening to me.

The ball hit the edge of the cup and bounced off and the boys cheered in victory. I threw my head back and closed my eyes, unable to hide my smile. Either way, I think I would have been happy.

I sighed and turned to Hannah. "Guess we have new partners."

She smiled. "Guess so," she squealed and then walked over to the boys. I followed her and she shook Tyler's hand.

"Hey, great game girls," he said sincerely and shook my hand. "Best team we've played all night."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Tyler."

Reid stood in front of me then with that stupid smirk on his face. "Nice try, but I told you that you wouldn't win."

I shook my head. "But you also thought that we weren't even going to make a cup."

"That was Tyler that said that. I figured you knew what you were kind of doing."

I sighed and smiled. "So I guess this means we're partners now?"

He nodded. "Yup, and we've got next game. Let's go," he said and grabbed my wrist. My heart almost stopped beating at the feet of his fingers on my skin and I had to pull myself together before we got back to the table.

We played two games and won both of them, one of them we even ended early because we both shot at the same time and made it in the same cup, which meant the game was over. I cheered loudly and Reid wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Who's next?" he called out, his voice slurring slightly. We had switched the cups to water instead of beer and just had a cup of beer in our hands to play, but I was definitely starting to feel a bit of a buzz.

"We are," a voice came and I saw Aaron Abbot, a kid who may have been an even bigger asshole than Reid ever was and his friend Billy step up to the table. Aaron wore a smug look on his face, even worse than Reid's and Billy just looked like a follower standing next to him.

I looked up at Reid who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Whatever you say, Aaron," he said and handed me my ball. "You shoot first."

I nodded. "Front cup," I called – my signature shot – and shot it and it splashed into the water. Reid nodded with an arrogant smile and shot his and made it in the middle cup.

"Balls back, boys," he taunted as Aaron and Billy fished the balls out of the cups and rolled them back. We both shot again and I missed and Reid made it. "Heating up," he called.

The game was long and it seemed like neither me nor Reid or our opponents could make anything. I was getting a bit impatient especially because of the way Aaron Abbot kept looking at me, as if I were a piece of meat. I said I was uncomfortable before with Reid, but that wore off. This feeling stayed with me the whole game and I kept trying to keep my gaze off of his but he wouldn't stop looking at me.

I didn't understand what was happening between me and Reid. Just a few hours ago, we had spoken for the first time ever and now we were all of a sudden beer pong partners. I couldn't deny my attraction for him, he was literally the hottest guy I'd ever seen in my opinion and I was a sucker for those blue eyes and the way his blonde hair fell on his forehead in that way.

What the hell was wrong with me? I'd spent most of my high school career here at Spenser against Reid and his arrogant friends and now, none of that seemed important to me anymore. All the mattered was that I was standing less than a foot away from Reid playing a drinking game with him.

Both teams were finally down to one last cup and it was mine and Reid's turn. I took a deep breath, focusing as hard as I could.

"You got this," Reid whispered and I nodded and shot the ball and missed. I groaned and leaned my head into Reid's shoulder as he patted mine. "It's alright," he said and then took his ball out of his pocket. He held it up in front of my face and I looked at him weird. "Kiss for good luck?"

I licked my lips as my breathing hitched in my throat. His blue eyes stared into mine as I leaned in and pressed my lips against the orange ping pong ball. He smiled and then, keeping his eyes on me, shot the ball. It took me a second to realize that he had shot without looking and another to hear the groans of the opposite team.

At the same time, Reid and I looked towards the cup to see that it had gone in and I looked back at him and smiled.

Aaron and Billy shot and both missed, ending their rebuttal and I was surprised when Reid wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me, pulling me into his hard chest and I welcomed it. He smelled so good and I breathed in, trying to memorize his scent.

"Good job, Mr. Garwin," I said, pulling back slightly to look at him.

He grinned. "Guess you're my good luck charm," he said quietly and for a split second, I thought that he might lean in to kiss me.

"You're a cheating prick," Aaron's voice said from beside us and Reid let out an annoyed growl as he turned to face him.

"Look, Aaron, just because you got your asses kicked, doesn't mean you have to be a sore loser about it," Reid teased.

Aaron glared at him. "You really think you rule this town don't you?" he asked, taking a step closer to Reid.

Reid mimicked his movements and just like that they were nose to nose. "Oh I know I do," Reid told him, his smirk still playing on his lips. "I thought you'd gotten over that by now."

"I thought you would have gotten over dating cheap sluts, but I guess that's not going to change anytime soon," Aaron said, his eyes flickered to me and then back to Reid who looked even more pissed.

I resisted the urge to speak up and declare that Reid and I most definitely were not dating.

"Why don't you give it a rest and walk away, Aaron," Reid growled lowly. "We both know how this is going to end up if we continue."

Aaron smirked. "Bring it on, poser."

I couldn't take this anymore and I jumped in between them facing Reid and my back to Aaron. I put my hands on Reid's chest and shoved hard. He didn't budge.

"Reid, come on. He's not even worth it," I tried to plead with him and put distance between him and Aaron at the same time.

"You might want to listen to her man," Aaron's friend Billy warned.

"Is that right, Billy?" Reid said, stepping even closer.

"Stop it," I tried to reason with him and braced my hands on his chest. "Reid, just let it go," I said, looking up at him. "Please, Reid."

A rustle came through the crowd and I watched as the rest of the Sons of Ipswitch gathered around us, flanking Reid and I on both sides.

"What's going on?" Caleb asked.

Reid didn't take his eyes off of Aaron as he spoke. "Callie and I were just playing some pong and we kicked their asses. Now Aaron's being a baby and crying about it."

Caleb looked annoyed. "Aaron, why don't you take your boys somewhere else?" he suggested and I looked at him, noticing that Kate's new roommate Sarah was standing next to him. Must be she had taken a liking to the Golden Boy.

"Why don't _you_ go somewhere else?" Aaron shot back, puffing out his chest as if he were tough. "Just because you guys are big shit as school doesn't mean you are here."

I felt Reid's hand at my waist and he pulled me closer to him. I looked up at him but he was still glaring at Aaron and his boys. For a split second, I could have sworn I saw a flame in his eyes.

Before I could look into it anymore, Billy started vomiting all over Aaron's back and Reid pulled me away so I wouldn't get any on me. Everyone stepped away and watched as Aaron almost punched his best friend in the face and then everyone else laughed. I noticed Caleb giving Reid a weird look.

"Guys, some guy just called and said he saw three police cars heading this way on Old Dell road!" the DJ announced and just like that, everyone seemed to scatter. I found myself walking next to Reid, his arm around my waist. We headed up the hill to the trees where everyone's cars were parked.

"Do you need a ride?" he asked as we neared the black hummer. I looked around; noticing that Tyler was walking next to me and Hannah was nowhere to be found.

"Hannah drove me out here but I'm not sure where she is," I said, looking behind us to see if she was coming. There was no sign of her. In fact, I hadn't seen her for a while. "Tyler, do you know where Hannah is?"

He shook his head and almost looked disappointed. "She said she was leaving after we lost our first game of pong."

I nodded and looked around again. Her car wasn't where she had left it so I assumed she had left without telling me. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket as we stopped at the hummer and dialed Hannah's number. Pogue and Kate were kissing goodbye and Caleb and Sarah were flirting while Tyler hopped behind the wheel.

The phone went to her voicemail and I sighed. She had probably gone back to the dorms and fallen asleep. I noticed that I also hadn't gotten any text messages or calls from Mr. Matthew Rivers. Good. I hoped that he felt guilty for being such an ass.

"Is it alright if I bum a ride off of you guys?" I asked timidly as Pogue and Caleb came back.

"Sure," Pogue smiled at me. "We have plenty of room."

I looked up at Reid who just shrugged and opened the door for me and I climbed in. Reid followed and Caleb got in on the other side of me and Pogue sat passenger.

"I'm Caleb, by the way," Caleb said, reaching out to shake my hand. "That's Pogue and I see you've already met Reid and Tyler."

I smiled at him and shook his hand. "Callie."

"You go to Spenser, right?" Pogue asked, turning around in his seat.

"For the past four years," I told him.

Reid's arm snaked around behind me to rest on the seat and I felt his fingers playing with my hair and it made me shiver.

"You were a pretty good partner," he told me, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Better than Tyler ever is."

"Hey!" Tyler defended from behind the wheel.

I laughed. "I would have beaten you in our first game if Hannah hadn't been cheating for you both."

Reid chuckled. "I seriously doubt that."

I shook my head and sighed. Reid was an asshole, I knew that, but right now, he really wasn't acting like one. It could be because he wanted to get into my pants, but then I remembered that I'm probably not even close to being his type. Maybe I could settle for being friends with Reid.

We dropped Caleb and Pogue off at their houses – which were more like mansions – and then went to the school. Reid and Tyler lived on the floor just above mine and they followed me up the stairs until we came to my floor.

"Thanks for the ride," I told Tyler with a smile.

He smiled back at me and I suddenly realized why Hannah liked him so much. He was adorable. "Anytime," he told me and then looked to Reid who was staring at me.

"I'll walk you to your door."

"You don't have to."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't want you tripping or falling and hitting your head or something," he said and pushed my shoulder lightly to tell me to start walking. He looked at Tyler over his shoulder. "I'll see you at the room." Tyler nodded and headed up the stairs.

We walked to my room in silence and I turned to face him when we finally reached it.

"Thanks again for the ride," I said quietly. "And for being my partner, I actually had a lot more fun than I thought I was going to."

He smiled. "It's not that hard to have fun when you're around me."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Always so cocky," I said with a smile.

Reid winked at me. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," I said quietly as I watched him walk down the hall. I drew my eyes away from him and unlocked my door and pushed inside, happy to be back near my bed again. I changed into a camisole and track shorts and climbed into bed.

My head was spinning. Just a few hours ago I was expressing that I hated Reid, but now, I wasn't quite so sure. He was still an asshole, no doubt about that, but I didn't have to hate him, did I? He was nice enough to me for the most part tonight and I'd seen a nicer side of him.

It wasn't like I was completely swooning over him and it's not like I wanted a relationship with him, but if he was going to make an effort to be nice then what was wrong with me doing the same thing?

I drifted off to sleep and for the first time in months, slept nightmare free.

* * *

The next morning it wasn't my alarm that woke me up but someone was frantically knocking on my door. I groaned and rolled over, realizing that it was only six in the morning. I still had another hour before I even had to think about getting up and get ready for classes.

"Callie, open up!" Matt's voice sounded from the other side of my door.

I rolled my eyes. "Matt, it's six in the morning. I don't feel like talking right now, go away," I told him, settling back in bed.

He groaned. "Callie, open the fucking door, it's Hannah."

My eyes flew open and I sat up immediately, hearing the distress in his voice that I'd missed the first time. I threw the covers off and ran to the door and pulled it open. Matt was standing there, his eyes red and puffy. He was in his sweatpants and a t-shirt and his hair was still mused slightly from sleep. He immediately threw his arms around me and pulled me close.

"Matt, what's going on?" I asked, hugging him back. "What about Hannah?"

Matt sniffed and pushed me back into my room and closed the door. He wiped his eyes, but I saw that it did no use as the tears kept forming in them. I hadn't ever seen Matt cry before and I wasn't sure how to feel about it. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"Matt," I breathed out and put my hands on either side of his face. "Please, you have to tell me what's going on."

The boy swallowed and took my hands in his, squeezing them tightly.

"Hannah's dead."

And my whole world stopped turning.


	3. Everything's An Illusion

A/N: Here's chapter 3! The title of this chapter is from the song Everything's An Illusion by Mayday Parade.

Also, my ideal "actress" for Callie is Lily Collins, if it helps you picture Callie's character any better.

Enjoy!

* * *

The day was long and full of investigators bringing me into private rooms to talk to me about the previous night. Matt had drove me down to the station early in the morning after I'd went to the Provost's office to tell him to let my teachers know I wouldn't be in class that day.

I could barely hear anything anyone said, I was still in utter shock. My best friend was dead. Hannah. I'd never see her again.

The investigators are suspecting a suicide overdose, but they can't be sure until the autopsy is done. I didn't believe it. I couldn't. Why would Hannah kill herself? She had a great life – loving parents, good friends, good grades, she was perfect. She told me everything, no matter what and had never even given a sign of being unhappy in any way.

"What was the last thing you said to Miss. O'Connor?" Officer Daniels asked and it seemed like the sixth time I'd been asked that all day.

I shrugged and tried to keep my tears in my eyes as I answered. "I just told her that I'd see her later. We were both still at the party but we were hanging out with different people."

"Who was Hannah with?"

I swallowed. I hated this. "She was with Tyler Simms for a while, but when I asked him where she was he told me that she told him she was going home. When we went back to the car, hers wasn't there anymore. She must have gone somewhere before…." I trailed off, not wanting to say it.

Officer Daniels nodded. "Was Mr. Simms acting….hostile in any way towards Hannah? Did you notice anything peculiar about their interaction?"

I shook my head. "No, Tyler was being a perfect gentleman and even after Hannah left, Tyler was around me. He didn't kill her if that's what you're thinking, but he might be able to tell you more about where she could have gone."

"Were you with anyone in particular?"

I sighed. The lump in my throat was becoming a little too much to handle and I really just wanted to get out of here and go back to my room. I glanced into the other cubicle where Matt was being questioned and longed for him. Right now, I needed him more than anything.

"I came to the party with Hannah but I was with Reid Garwin for most of it. He doesn't even know who Hannah is. We just met last night."

Officer Daniels nodded again and let out a tired sigh. He'd been up all night working on Hannah's case.

"Now, I know you don't think that it was a suicide, but is there anything you can tell me about Hannah? Was she depressed? Did she ever make any suicidal remarks or anything close to it?"

I shook my head quickly. "Nothing, never," I told him honestly and a lone tear fell down my face at the memory of my friend. "Mr. Daniels, Hannah is….._was_ the happiest person I knew. She would never kill herself. I'm positive about that."

A few hours later, I was finally allowed to leave with the promise of a phone call to let me know the outcome of the autopsy. Hannah's parents were coming today to take the body back to her hometown for a funeral but I wasn't going. I couldn't. There was no way that I could have made it through that.

The drive back to Spenser was long and quiet, neither Matt nor I wanting to speak. Instead, Matt reached over and took hold of one of my hands in my lap. I looked at him as the tears fell down my face and his expression told me that he was feeling the same way. I cradled his hand in both of mine and hung my head, not bothering to hide the tears anymore.

Finally back in my room, Matt followed me in and we lay down on the bed together. My back was pressed against Matt's chest and his arm was around my waist as he snuggled closer to me, his face in my hair.

It probably would have been awkward if it were under any other circumstances but we both knew that we were doing it just to feel something other than sorrow and guilt. If I had just stayed with Hannah and not made that stupid bet with Reid, she'd still be alive. Matt blamed himself, saying that he never should have let us go to the party in the first place.

It felt nice to have Matt there. Our little tiff over text didn't matter anymore as we just needed comfort from the other. It made the pain hurt just a little less and we fell asleep like that.

* * *

I didn't go to class for the next two days and then I had the weekend to grieve. I barely left my room and I wasn't eating. I couldn't. Why should I be able to live and go to class and eat when Hannah was dead because of me? I didn't deserve it.

Matt went back to class the day after we found out Hannah was gone, even though he was also given a few days off for grieving time as well. He brought me my homework and I busied myself with that while he was at classes and then when Matt came back, he would just hold me while we watched a movie or something on TV. I hadn't slept alone since the night of Dells.

It was Sunday afternoon and Matt had just come back from getting Chinese take-out for us. I didn't understand why he wasted money getting me some, I wasn't hungry.

He walked in and set the food on my desk and offered me a smile. "What would you like first, there's pork fried rice, egg rolls or sweet and sour chicken?"

I sighed and brought my knees up to my chest. "I'm really not hungry, Matt."

He rolled his eyes and put a little bit of everything on a plate for me. "You haven't eaten since yesterday morning, Callie. You're eating this," he ordered and handed me that plate and a fork.

I gave in and took it from him and started pushing the food around with my fork. I really wasn't hungry even though I knew I should be, but I ate a couple bites, knowing Matt wouldn't leave me alone if I didn't.

"You're going to classes tomorrow, right?" he asked, shoving an egg roll in his mouth.

I nodded. "I have to. I've already missed two of the first days. If I miss any more I'll be screwed."

He sat down next to me on my bed, resting his back against the wall like I was doing. "It's going to be alright, Callie. We'll get through this."

That's all I'd heard from him the past couple of days. I knew he was just trying to be supportive and I knew that I wouldn't have gotten through the last few days without him, but it would also be nice to not have him surrounding me tonight. I was making him go back to his room, I needed to learn how to be on my own, since I hadn't been since Hannah died.

Matt stayed in my room until around nine when I finally made him leave. He cleaned up the Chinese food and kissed my hair before leaving. I stripped out of my clothes and went into my private bathroom to shower, knowing I hadn't done so in a few days.

I turned on my music to let it sooth me as I stood in front of the mirror and examined my naked body. My face was pale and I had definitely dropped a few pounds over the last couple of days, which was highly unhealthy. I really needed to start eating again.

I sighed and started the shower and then stepped into the steaming hot water. It felt good on my skin and I washed my hair and body quickly and just stayed in the shower for a while, not wanting to leave. It allowed me to forget about everything if just for a little while.

* * *

I walked into English the next morning and took my seat next to Matt. People were staring at me and I knew they were whispering about Hannah and about how I knew her. Hannah and I weren't really known around school but I guessed now that she had supposedly "committed suicide", we had become famous.

"Just ignore them," Matt leaned over to whisper to me.

I sighed and started doodling on my notebook paper, trying to ignore the staring and whispers. I looked up when felt someone brush by me, knocking my arm slightly. It was Reid Garwin, who just merely looked down at me with an expressionless face and went to find a seat.

To be honest, I'd almost forgotten all about him the past couple of days. I forgot about the brief moment we shared after beating Aaron Abbot and his friends and then again when he left me at my door after dropping me off. Those feelings came rushing back now as I looked at him over my shoulder. His eyes never left mine as he took his seat next to Tyler, who offered me a sympathetic smile.

"Welcome everyone, hope your weekend was fun-filled and not as boring as mine," Mr. Simpson tried to joke and earned no laughs. His eyes fell to mine and I saw the sorrow in them. "Miss. Fletcher, if at any time you feel like you need a moment, feel free."

My eyes widened in shock. Did he really just say that? Did he really just call me out like that in front of everyone? The whispers started up again and I merely nodded at the teacher and sunk down in my seat, trying to make myself as small as possible. Just a few days ago I was invisible to everyone and now the whole student body knew me as 'the girl that killed her self's best friend'. Just fucking great.

All the teachers treated me different and made it a point to let me know that I could leave if I needed. It was ridiculous that they all thought I was so broken now. I was, but I was sure I was putting up a pretty good facade. Matt was by my side every chance he got and it was getting a bit annoying, but I was thankful he was there to shush the whispering for a little while.

I decided at lunch that I was done being weak. I was done crying and I was going to be strong. Hannah was gone and I missed her more than anything, but I couldn't let people see through me anymore. I wasn't going to be Callie Fletcher, the girl who cried all the time. No, that was going to end now.

I sat in my last class of the day, scrolling through my phone, trying to keep my mind off of everything when Kyra Snyder, the most popular girl in school and the biggest bitch I'd ever met, walked in with her posse in tow. She looked right at me and I braced myself, knowing she was cooking up something. I averted my eyes back to my phone.

Suddenly, books slammed down on the desk in front of me, making me jump and I looked up to see Kyra standing in front of me.

"I heard your little friend decided to off herself the other day," she said, her voice like nails on a chalkboard. I bit my tongue to keep my fury in. "Too bad she didn't decide to take you with her. Once less reject in this school, the better," she said and then turned to her friends and giggled.

I narrowed my eyes at her and clenched my fist, feeling a strong urge to rearrange that pretty jaw of hers.

"How are you dealing with it anyways?" she asked; fake concern heavy in her tone. "I can't imagine what it must feel like to have your only friend kill herself, leaving you all alone to deal with the grief."

Again, I kept my mouth shut, using all my strength to keep my cool. I'd been in a couple fights before, junior high years were not my best and I'd never lost completely. Kyra was in for something if she thought she'd be able to take me if I actually did lose my cool.

"I say good riddance, the stupid bitch obviously wasn't happy enough with her life-"

I was just about to stand up and rock her world when a deep, even voice spoke from beside us.

"Shut the fuck up, Kyra," it was Tyler Simms. He was sitting just a couple desks away and I could see her words were affecting him as well. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Kyra shut up but not before she turned to grin back at me. She leaned down, her face getting closer to mine and my knuckles were turning white from clenching my fist so tightly.

"Hopefully you're next," she whispered in my ear and then took her seat. I couldn't take it. If I didn't get away from her, I was going to kill her. I stood up, grabbed all my things and rushed out of the room just as the teacher was coming inside. He was about to say something when he realized who I was and let me go.

I hurried out of the building, trying to keep my tears in my eyes and headed towards the dorms. Once I was inside, I took the steps two by two, rounding the corner of the second floor to start heading up to the third when I ran into a hard body and it was all too familiar, only this time he wasn't fast enough to catch me and I fell backwards onto the hard floor of the landing.

I looked up from my spot on the ground to see Reid Garwin staring back at me, his face blank.

The tears were flowing freely now as I huffed and gathered up the things that had fallen out of my bag. An extra set of hands was there in an instant, helping me pick up the papers and put them back inside.

When I went to stand, Reid's hand grasped my arm and hauled me to my feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his face still blank but I swore I heard concern in his voice.

"I'm fine," I hissed.

I knew he didn't believe me and he reached up to brush a hair out of my face and tuck it behind my ear. "You're not fine."

That was it. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I dropped my head into my hands and started to sob.

"No, you're right, I'm not fine," I sobbed. "My best friend is dead and everything's gone to shit. I hate this school and everyone in it and I just want to go home. I want my friend back and I want everyone to just fuck off!"

The amusement on his face was evident at my last words and I realized that his hand was still on my arm. I jerked it out of his grasp. "If you're just going to laugh at me then you can leave me alone," I told him as I started walking up the stairs.

His hand shot up again to hold my wrist and pull me back to him and my body was pressed against his. His face was just a few inches from mine and he reached up to wipe a tear from my cheek as it fell.

"I'm not going to laugh at you."

I swallowed and tried to pull away again but he held me tightly. "Will you just leave me alone?" I asked, my voice quivering. "I'm fine."

He shook his head. "You're not fine," he said again.

The tears fell again and I hung my head. "I just can't believe this is happening. This is my entire fault. I shouldn't have left her. I should have stayed with her. She's dead because of me, I let her go off by herself and now she's gone. Now she'll never graduate or go to college or get married. She'll never have children or grandchildren and I'm supposed to go on like I don't care? I don't deserve to be here, it should have been me-"

"Shut up," Reid hissed quickly before I could finish and I glared at him. "Don't ever say something like that, Callie. It's not true."

I shook my head. "Yes it is. It's all true," I said and I couldn't control my sobs any longer and just let loose.

I wasn't sure how long I stood there crying in his arms, but all of a sudden he was pulling me up the stairs. I started to protest when we passed the third floor but he just ignored me and we went up to the fourth. I followed him down the hall until he stopped in front of what I assumed was his door. He unlocked it and pushed it open and shoved me inside, closing the door behind us.

He looked at me for a second and I didn't know what to say. What was I doing here? I was vulnerable, but not to the point where I was going to have sex with him. Did he really find me to be that easy?

He huffed and went to his dresser, taking out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and tossing them to me. "Get changed, I'll be right back," he said, walking to the door. "Stay here," his voice was almost a growl and sent a shiver down my spine. No way in hell was I going anywhere. He closed the door and I was left alone…..in Reid Garwin's bedroom.

I looked down at the clothes in my hand and realized just how comfy they looked so I stripped out of my uniform and stuffed it in my bag and pulled on the comfy sweatpants and t-shirt that were both too big for me. The clothes smelled like him and I pulled the collar of the shirt up to my nose and inhaled. God he smelled delicious.

The door opened again and Reid came back. He closed the door and locked it and turned to me, taking in the sight of me.

"You look sexy in my clothes," he murmured, his face unchanging.

I couldn't help but blush. I'd never been called sexy before.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" I asked quietly. My voice still cracked slightly from crying before.

He shrugged. "I'm ditching," he said simply and kicked off his shoes, un-tucked his white shirt, undid his tie and shed the top half of his clothing. My eyes widened at the sight of his stomach and arm muscles. He was even better looking without his clothes on. I came to the conclusion that Reid Garwin should just have to be shirtless all the time.

He caught me staring and grinned wickedly. "See something you like?" he teased, raising his eyebrows.

I sucked in a breath and turned away from him, hiding another blush. He chuckled and I heard him rustling around in his drawers and when he appeared in front of me again, he had on a pair of silk basketball shorts but was still shirtless.

"Want to take a nap?" he asked and I gave him a weird look. This had to be different for Reid Garwin – a girl that wasn't jumping into his bed at his command.

"Are you serious?" I asked and then looked at the mattress. "In this bed?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I could think of something a lot more fun that we could be doing in that bed than napping," he stopped and smiled when I gave him a 'dream on' look and continued, "but I know it would be useless to even try. Plus, I don't like to take advantage of girls. It's not really my thing."

My brow furrowed at his honesty. "Why would you be taking advantage of me?"

"Because you're upset and vulnerable and I bet if I tried to make a pass at you right now, you wouldn't reject it."

I swallowed and nodded at the truth in his words. If he kissed me, I wouldn't mind and if he touched me I wouldn't mind either. Good thing he was in the right state of mind.

"So I figured we'd just take a nap. What can be the harm in that, right?"

I looked at him nervously. "I guess."

His answering smile was different…almost comforting. He reached out to me and I hesitantly took his hand and he pulled me over to the bed. He flipped the covers back and crawled in and I followed suit. I faced away from him, towards Tyler's side of the room and he settled behind me, pulling the blankets up over us. It was different than with Matt. With Matt, there was always that barrier, that barrier that said 'don't hold me too tightly because you're like my brother'. But here, now, with Reid, it was _completely_ different.

His arm wrapped around my waist and hugged me closer to him and I inched back, fitting into the curve of his muscular form perfectly. His hand rested on the exposed skin of my hip, his thumb softly caressing me. His hard chest was pressed against my back and I welcomed the feeling of something completely different and…..something that felt right.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep but even in the arms of Reid, I couldn't avoid the terrible nightmares that came to me.

I was back in the eerie woods and I was searching around frantically. Fog covered the floor of the forest and the sky was dark. I heard thunder and saw the flash of lightning in the distance. I followed the light, feeling like it was pulling me in.

"Callie," a voice whispered and I gasped when I recognized it to be Hannah's. "Callie, help me!" she cried and I started to run, following the flash of the lightning.

"Hannah!" I yelled. "Where are you?"

"Callie!"

The trees felt never ending and I wasn't sure how long I was running before I finally came to a stop, out of breath. The lightning kept flashing and the thunder rolled loudly and I heard another scream. I started running again.

"Hannah!"

The voice that answered wasn't her anymore. It was male and it was unfamiliar but I knew I had heard it before. Finally I came to a clearing and saw a body being lifted into the air. They wore all black and a hooded jacket, the hood pulled up so I couldn't see his hair.

"Callie!" the voice said and began turning around and a blast of light erupted out of his body, overtaking me.

I woke up with a scream, sitting up quickly. The action threw my body sideways and I would have fallen out of the bed if a pair of strong arms hadn't wrapped around my waist and hauled me back into place, my head landing back on the pillow.

I looked up into the deep blue eyes of Reid Garwin, suddenly remembering where I was – in his bedroom. He was propped up on his elbow and leaning over me, his hand on my arm, keeping me near him. I checked the clock and saw that it was almost six. We'd been sleeping since two. How could I even be tired? All I'd done the past four days is sleep.

My chest was heaving with uneven breaths and I was trying to calm it. Tears formed in my eyes, threatening to fall.

"Sh," Reid said, reaching up to cup my face with his hand. "It was only a dream."

I swallowed and shook my head. "It felt so real…" I whispered and put a hand to my forehead, wiping the sweat from my brow.

He smiled slightly. "They always do," he whispered. There it was again- the connection that I felt to him. His face was only a couple inches from mine and I could feel his cool breath on my lips. It sent shivers down my spine and I shifted slightly under his piercing gaze.

His hand that was on my cheek slowly slid down, finding its way to my hip and squeezing it slightly. He slipped it just inside the hem of the shirt and his fingertips danced on my soft skin, giving me Goosebumps. This was getting unbearable.

"Reid," I breathed and I saw something change in his eyes.

The door opened then and Tyler walked in, stopping short at the same time I jumped, trying to push Reid away from me but he held me tightly and I knew I wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh God dammit, Reid!" Tyler said, looking away, embarrassed.

Reid chuckled, not having removed his hand from under my shirt. His fingers traced soothing patterns on my stomach.

"Relax, Ty. We were just taking a nap," Reid told the poor kid who still wouldn't look at us. "We're fully clothed."

"You have your shirt off," Tyler informed him.

Reid scoffed. "Because I don't sleep with my shirt off every night when I go to bed, right Ty?"

I couldn't help the smile that crept across my face and I watched Tyler sigh and slowly turn around. I waved at him innocently and he offered me an awkward smile.

"I guess I don't have to ask you where you were last period," Tyler said, walking over to his bed and shrugged off his backpack and jacket.

"Not if you don't want to," Reid said, looking back down at me, his fingers still under my shirt. "Where have you been?"

"I had some errands to run and swim practice ran a little late," he explained. "Are we still going to Nicky's tonight?" he asked, grabbing clothes from his wardrobe and dressers. "I told Caleb and Pogue we'd meet them there."

Reid sighed, not taking his eyes off of me. "I suppose we can go," he told Tyler and his hand moved slightly higher on my stomach. "Do you want to come to Nicky's with me?"

I sucked in a breath. Nicky's was a bar downtown that almost everyone in school went to hang out. If you were lucky, you could even get served alcoholic beverages. I knew the Sons always hung out there because Hannah always wanted to go but I never would go with her, so she never went either. I regretted that now. I should have gone with her, I should have-

"Hey," Reid's voice invaded my thoughts. "You don't have to come if you don't want to. I was just asking."

I licked my lips and saw Tyler shake his head out of the corner of my eye. "I'm going to change. I'll be right back," he said and left the room.

I looked back at Reid, who raised his eyebrows at me in question.

"Okay."


	4. Break the Bubble

A/N: I'm not really sure if people are liking this or not, I'd really like some feedback or something guys! :)

Enjoy!

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(Callie's POV)

I went back down to my room to change out of Reid's clothes. He said he'd be down in twenty minutes to get me and that I had better be ready. I changed into a pair of jeans and a peach V-neck tee that hugged to my curves. I put on my leather jacket and slipped on my vintage Chuck Taylors. I fluffed my hair and let it be and was ready when Reid knocked on my door.

He had changed into a pair of dark jeans and a black long sleeved shirt with a white shirt underneath. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows, revealing the tattoo on the inside of his left forearm. He had on his black fingerless gloves and a black beanie that covered all of his blonde hair except for the strands that hung on his forehead and the back of his neck.

He looked me up and down and a sly smile appeared on his face.

"I'm not so sure I want to go to Nicky's anymore," he said with a husky voice.

I rolled my eyes and lightly hit him in the arm. "Come on, let's go. Your friends are waiting," I told him and I followed him downstairs and out to the parking lot to Tyler's waiting hummer.

Nicky's was packed when we walked in and I was almost afraid I'd get lost. We formed a single-file line and I followed Reid with Tyler close behind me until we came to a table where Caleb and Pogue were sitting with Kate and Sarah and that new kid, Chase.

"What's up, guys," Tyler greeted, slapping hands with Caleb and Pogue and Reid did the same.

"Hey Callie," Caleb said, nodding his head at me.

"Hey Caleb, hey Pogue," I said to both of them.

The blonde girl, Sarah reached her hand out to me and smiled brightly.

"I'm Sarah," she said, her smile bright.

I shook her hand and smiled back. "Callie. It's nice to meet you."

Sarah smiled and gestured to the brunette sitting next to her. "This is Kate, Pogue's girlfriend."

Kate smiled at me and I shook her hand too. "Nice to meet you too," I said to her as well.

"I'm Chase," said the curly haired kid, standing up to shake my hand and I instantly got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when his skin came into contact with mine. I didn't know what it was and I tried to push it back as Reid pulled me down into a seat next to him. I shrugged off my jacket and hung it on the back of my chair.

"Are you guy's hungry?" Caleb asked, summoning the waitress. I wasn't but Reid and Tyler probably were. They were boys. They were always hungry.

"What can I get you boys?" the blonde waitress asked. She looked like she was in heaven standing around all of these guys. I rolled my eyes.

"Can I get a burger with fries and a coke?" Tyler asked and the waitress nodded and wrote it down on her pad, then looked up at Reid, batting her eyelashes.

Reid rolled his head to look at me. "You want anything?"

I shook my head, using the only excuse I had. "I don't have any money."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you want anything?" he asked again, implying that he would pay for me.

I sighed. "No thank you, I'm not hungry," I told him politely.

He seemed satisfied with my answer and ordered the same thing that Tyler did. The waitress smiled for a moment too long at Reid and then was gone. Was I jealous? No, I couldn't be. It's not like I had some claim over Reid. I wasn't even sure if we were friends. Our relationship was complicated, I guess.

The boys chatted for a while as they waited for the food and I listened in, fiddling with my hands in my lap. The boys were all actually pretty funny and I found myself giggling like a school girl at some of the things they said.

It was nice to see Reid around his friends; it almost made him seem like a normal guy and not some womanizing jerk. He was smiling and laughing and it all came so naturally to him. I wish he would do it more and maybe he wouldn't have the reputation he did. That was probably why he put up that front, so people wouldn't know that he was actually kind of…..sweet.

Okay, maybe not sweet, but he wasn't being an asshole…at least not to me. It seemed like they all liked to pick on Tyler, who was the baby of the four of them and Reid seemed to give it to him the most.

Their food came then and the French fries actually smelled delicious and I couldn't help but reach over and snag one of Reid's out of his basket. He raised his eyebrows at me as he popped one in his mouth and chewed it and I bit my lip, hiding a smirk.

"Thought you said you weren't hungry?"

I shrugged. "I'm not, they just smell really good," I told him and he slid the basket over so that it sat in between us both and I could pick at the fries. I smiled at him in thank you.

Once everyone finished their food, they all started to disperse. Caleb, Pogue and Chase went to the foosball tables and Reid and Tyler headed over to the pool tables, where, from what I've heard, they will stay pretty much all night long.

I sighed and played with the couple fries that were left in the basket.

"Okay, what just happened?" Sarah asked, looking around at the guys.

Kate followed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we were sitting here having fun and now we're…watching them have fun."

I shrugged. "They're guys."

Kate laughed and nodded her head in agreement. "She's right. That's what usually happens when we come here. At least now I have you guys to sit here with me."

Sarah eyed us both and then sat up and held out her palm. "Do you have a quarter?" she asked both me and Kate.

"Why?" we asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Come on," she said with a smile, urging us on. "Give me a quarter, I'll show you how to fix this."

Kate laughed and reached into her purse and handed her a quarter.

"Thank you!" Sarah said and got up. I watched as she headed over to the vintage jukebox and slipped the quarter in. I kind of got the feeling of what she was doing and I smiled. It only took her a minute to find a song and smiled when I heard the familiar first words of Def Leppard's hit song.

_Step inside, walk this way_

_You and me babe, Hey, hey!_

Sarah turned to us with a huge grin and made her way back over to the table. The music was loud and filled the whole bar and Sarah took both mine and Kate's hands.

I shook my head. "I'm not a dancer," I yelled over the music.

She laughed. "It doesn't matter, let's go!" she said and I couldn't help but go with her. We danced out to the dance floor and formed a small circle. I swayed my hips to the beat and sang along with the verse.

_Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on_

_Livin' like a lover with a radar phone_

_Lookin' like a tramp, like a video vamp_

_Demolition woman, can I be your man?_

I laughed and threw my head back; putting my hands up in the air as my hips moved back and forth. Sarah was really dancing, pulling up the skirt of her dress and grinding up against Kate. It was obvious they were trying to get their boyfriend's attentions.

I glanced over at Reid who hadn't even noticed me dancing. Did I care? He shouldn't have to notice me and I really shouldn't want him to. If he wanted to play pool then he could play pool. Why should I care?

_C'mon, take a bottle, shake it up_

_Break the bubble, break it up!_

_Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love_

_Pour some sugar on me, c'mon, fire me up_

_Pour your sugar on me, oh, I can't get enough_

_I'm hot, sticky sweet_

_From my head to my feet, yeah_

Sarah wrapped her arms around my neck and ground her hips against mine and I felt almost awkward. I hadn't ever danced with a girl before and definitely not like this. It wasn't until I noticed that Reid was staring that I grabbed her hips and copied her motions.

I sang along with the lyrics and Kate danced next to me, rubbing her ass up against my thigh and I laughed again. We all held hands as we danced, knowing that we had all succeeded in getting the guys' attention. Caleb was the first to walk over and take Sarah away from us then Pogue came and claimed Kate. I felt awkward dancing by myself but I refused to look at Reid. I wasn't going to seem desperate.

"Mind if I join you?" a voice came from behind me and I turned to see Chase smiling at me.

My eyes widened and that unstable feeling was back almost immediately. I didn't understand what it was about it, but something just didn't seem right about him.

"I-uh…" I stuttered, not knowing what to say as an excuse to get out of this one.

"I don't think so, newbie," Reid's voice came and I felt his hand on my waist, pulling me into him. "She came here with me, she's dancing with me."

Chase held his hands up in surrender. "My bad, dude. Didn't know you guys were together is all," he said and walked away but not before winking at me.

I shuddered and turned around as Reid's arms came around me.

"Thank you," I breathed and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer and our hips came together and we started to move and I forgot about Chase and focused on Reid and the song.

_You got the peaches, I got the cream_

_Sweet to taste, saccharine_

_'cause I'm hot, say what, sticky sweet_

_From my head, my head, to my feet_

Reid laughed with me as we sang along with the lyrics and danced and he almost looked like a little kid. It was adorable. Our hips swayed together to the beat and he rested his forehead against mine.

_Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love_

_Pour some sugar on me, c'mon fire me up_

_Pour your sugar on me, oh, I can't get enough_

_Sugar me!_

The song ended and I hugged Reid as we both laughed at ourselves. I had to hand it to Sarah; that was one way to get a guy's attention.

"I'm going to get a drink. Do you want anything?" Reid asked in my ear, the next song on the jukebox started to play and it was still louder than ever.

"Can you get me a bottle of water please?" I asked and he nodded and then headed to the bar.

I sighed and wiped the little bead of sweat off of my brow. Dancing was hard work. I was about to sit back down when I felt my phone buzzing in the back pocket of my jeans and I took it out and saw that Matt was calling me.

Crap. I hadn't talked to him since this morning. He was probably frantically worrying about where I was and who I was with. I sighed and went out the back door of the bar to the alley in the back. There were boxes of empty beer bottles and kegs all around.

"Hello?" I said innocently when I answered.

"Jesus Christ Callie, where the hell have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you all night."

"Yeah-uh sorry, my phone was off," I lied smoothly. "I've been sleeping."

There was a momentary pause and he huffed. "I went to your room and pounded on your door for a good five minutes. Don't tell me you slept through it."

"Well, I must have because that's where I've been."

"Alright, well I'm coming over now-"

"No!" I said too quickly and immediately regretted it He knew me too well.

"Callie, where are you?"

I sighed and didn't answer. I didn't have to tell him, it wasn't like he was my father. Just because he was my friend didn't mean I always had to check in with him and let him know I was okay.

"Where are you?" he asked again, this time more sternly.

"None of your business, Matt," I hissed and then shivered. It was getting cold outside and I didn't have my jacket on.

He scoffed. "Of course it's my business. You're my best friend! I deserve to know where you are."

I rolled my eyes. "You really don't want to know."

"Trust me, I do."

"No, you don't." I shivered again.

"Just tell me!"

I groaned. "Fine! I'm at Nicky's with Reid!" I said loudly and I looked around to see if anyone else had heard me. Thankfully, no one was around. "There, are you happy now?"

"You…..you're with…..Reid?" he asked and I could hear the disappointment in his voice. "Reid Garwin?"

I sighed, almost regretting yelling at him….almost. "Yes."

"Why?" he sounded hurt.

"Because I can be, Matt!" I said loudly again and I tried to remind myself to keep calm. "God, I'm my own person and I can do whatever I want with whomever I want and I don't need your permission to do it."

There was a long pause and all I could hear was his short breaths.

"You're right. Why care about the person who's stood by your side through everything and shown you nothing but kindness and love? That would be stupid, wouldn't it?"

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to let him pity his way out of this."Knock it off, Matt. You know I care about you just…..not in the same way that…..you care about me," I told him, lowering my voice down to a mumble.

"Yeah, well I guess I can give up on that dream now, seeing as how Garwin's going to take my place," he said, his voice full of remorse.

As if he'd heard Matt say his name, the door opened and Reid popped his head through.

"Thought you'd ran away," he said with a smile. Then he draped my leather jacket over my shoulders and I sent him a thankful glance and pulled on the arms.

"Is that him?" Matt asked on the phone.

"Yeah, it is. I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow in English," I told him and then hung up before he could get another word in.

"Who was that?" Reid asked.

"My friend Matt," I told him, stuffing my phone into my coat pocket. "He's…..not very happy that I'm here."

Reid smiled smugly. "How could you expect him to be?" he asked and I looked at him. "He's in love with you and you're here with a guy that he hates. I'm not sure I'd be so happy either."

I sighed and put my hands in my pockets. "Yeah well, I only see him as a friend. Believe me, Matt is like practically perfect and he's the nicest guy I've ever met, but….it's just not _there,_ you know?"

Reid looked at me with a cocky smile. "Definitely."

Here came the feeling again and I took a deep breath as I was suddenly pushed up against the cold brick wall of Nicky's with Reid's face only inches from mine.

Reid braced his hands on either side of my head and I looked up at him through my lashes. He stared down at me with smoldering blue eyes and I couldn't help but melt, God, he was gorgeous.

He leaned in and I felt him press his lips against the skin just under my earlobe. "You were quite the little dancer out there," he whispered huskily.

I scoffed at myself. "Are you kidding? I'm a terrible dancer."

He chuckled lightly. "Horrendous would be the more proper word to describe it," he teased and then trailed his tongue along my jaw line, setting my skin on fire. Liquid pooled between my thighs and I squeezed them together tightly. "But when you were dancing with me…you were perfect," he told me and his eyes met mine again, our lips so close I swore I could feel them brush together slightly.

"You're a good partner," I breathed out, flicking my gaze from his eyes to his lips and then back up again.

He smirked and one of his hands came over to caress my cheek with his fingertips.

"I think I've said the same about you before."

I smiled and winked at his remembrance. He inched his face even closer and my breathing picked up again. One small movement would have caused our lips to collide and I was making sure to let him decide when that moment would be.

And apparently, it wasn't right now.

The back door to Nicky's flew open and Tyler poked his head outside.

"Hey guys everyone's getting ready to leave- oh," he said when he realized what he had just interrupted….again.

Reid groaned and threw his head back in annoyance. "God dammit, Tyler," he growled through clenched teeth and I giggled. His arms dropped, releasing me from my cage. "Couldn't have waited a _little_ bit longer before barging out here, Baby Boy?"

Tyler shrugged. "Maybe you should start warning me beforehand then I wouldn't keep making the same mistakes."

I smirked up at Reid. "He has a point," I told him.

Reid glared playfully at me and held his finger up to my lips. "You keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut, Miss. Fletcher," he said and I couldn't help but giggle. He looked back up at Tyler. "You ready to go, man?"

Tyler nodded and we headed back to the hummer and drove to Spenser.

Reid walked me to my door again only this time he didn't leave. He waited until I unlocked the door and then he opened it and let himself inside. I shook my head and followed him in.

"Don't you have a room of your own?" I teased, tossing my keys on my desk and shrugging off my jacket.

He didn't answer and instead looked around. "Damn, I should have had my parents pay for a single. This is awesome. You have your own bathroom and everything."

I nodded. "Yeah, it's really convenient," I told him as I stepped out of my shoes. I watched as Reid took his jacket off, threw it to the floor and sat on my bed, making him comfortable.

"Make yourself at home," I said with heavy sarcasm.

He smiled widely and obnoxiously at me. "Don't mind if I do."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to change," I told him, shutting the door behind me.

"Can I watch?" I heard him ask from the room.

I laughed. "You're a pervert."

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying."

I shrugged out of all my clothes and pulled on my pajamas, throwing my dirty clothes into my hamper that was starting to overflow. I really needed to do laundry soon. Suddenly, I found myself fluffing my hair in the bathroom mirror. What was I doing? I never cared about what I looked like so why should I care now?

Oh right, because I have a sexy blonde guy waiting for me out on my bed.

I shivered at the thought. Why did I have to have these feelings about Reid? Why, why, why?

Opening the door, I found Reid now lying on his back on my bed, hands behind his head and his eyes were closed. He had taken off the black sweater, beanie and sneakers and was now in his jeans and a white tank top that allowed me to study his muscles a little more. I realized that he had more tattoos than just the one on his forearm. He had a tribal ring that wrapped around his right bicep and a bigger one that went across the muscular skin of his left bicep. They made him that much hotter to me, I'd always been a big fan of tattoos.

I sighed and sat down in the chair at my desk and watched him. I knew he wasn't sleeping, but he looked still enough that he could be.

One of his eyes opened and he peeked at me out of the corner of his eye. "You gonna make me lie here in _your_ bed all by myself?" he asked, closing his eyes again.

"For now," I said quietly. "Don't you think we're…..moving too fast?"

I breathed in deeply and I watched his chest heave but his eyes stayed closed. "Not at all," he said matter-of-factly. "If I can remember correctly, I haven't even kissed you yet."

I licked my lips. He was right. "But I've slept in your bed."

"Yes," his voice was husky and it sounded as if he wanted me to elaborate and I wasn't even sure what to say.

"I've…..I've never done that before," I admitted quietly.

He sighed. "Neither have I."

My brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" Surely that couldn't be true. He was like…._the_ biggest man-whore of Spenser.

He smirked, keeping his eyes closed. "I've only ever _fucked_ girls in my bed, Callie. I've never invited a girl to my room, gotten her in my bed and just slept next to her for four hours."

"Really?" I asked, although it really wasn't that hard to believe.

He nodded and I wished he would open his damn eyes. His calmness was making me anxious.

"How come it was different this time?" I asked, looking down at my hands.

"Because I knew that you didn't want that from me," he answered truthfully. "And I already told you that I don't take advantage of girls, despite what you might have heard around school."

"So why did you even take me to your room in the first place if you already knew I wasn't going to put out?"

He didn't answer for a moment and I thought that he might have fallen asleep.

"Because you were upset and seemed like you needed…..a friend," he said the last part awfully quiet and I had to be sure that I heard him.

I blinked. "So is that what we are?" I asked, feeling hopeful. "Friends?"

It was then that he finally opened his eyes and turned his head to look at me. His eyes looked like a completely different shade of blue and I was intrigued, unable to look away.

"Is that okay with you?" he asked and I tried to search his face for some kind of sign that he wasn't playing me but nothing was there.

I swallowed and bit my lip, unable to look away from his gaze.

"Stop doing that," he ordered suddenly and I released my lip from my teeth. "And answer the question."

"Yes, it's okay with me," I told him finally, my voice quiet and barely audible.

He smiled, obviously satisfied. "Good," he said and then scooted farther over on the bed. "Now, there's nothing in the 'friend book' that says that they can't sleep in the same bed together," he told me, closing his eyes again.

I laughed. "I thought you weren't trying to get me into bed with you."

"I never said that," he said with a smirk. "I just said I wasn't looking to have sex with you in your bed."

I rolled my eyes. "Why are you even here Reid?" I asked, not meaning my voice to come out as harsh as it sounded.

His eyes opened again and he looked at me, confusion written all over his face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, a couple of days ago you didn't even know who I was and now all of a sudden you're in my bed, half naked and wanting me to join you, it doesn't make sense."

"I'm hardly half naked," he said, his eyes playful.

"You know what I mean."

He sighed and sat up. "Honestly, it doesn't really make any sense to me either. I don't know why this is happening now but quite frankly, I don't really care. You're fun and cool and you're fucking amazing at beer pong," he said with a smirk and I couldn't help the smile that crossed my lips. "And right now, I just want to be around you. I like talking to you and listening to you. I want to be your friend."

I let his words sink in and my smile just widened. He was being completely honest to me and I had a strong feeling that this wasn't what Reid Garwin was usually like. He didn't seem like a sentimental person to me but as I kept getting to know him more and more, I started realizing that I was wrong.

"Just my friend?" I asked skeptically.

Reid rolled his eyes impatiently "Callie, if at any point in our relationship you told me you wanted more than just friendship with me, I wouldn't hesitate to get you naked and in my bed," he said and my heart almost stopped at his words, thinking of how much I would enjoy that…._what? No, Callie, stop. You can't be thinking that, knock it off. _"But as I said before, I know you're not interested in that and….that's okay with me."

"Really?"

He sighed. "Really, really, now would you please get your ass over here in this bed with me, I'm getting impatient."

"Okay," I breathed and got up out of the chair, feeling his eyes watching me the whole time. "Are you planning on staying all night?" I asked.

He shrugged. "If you want me to."

I licked my lips and thought about it. I knew if I told him to leave that he would but I wasn't so sure that I wanted him to. Instead, I locked my door, turned off my light and slipped under the blankets next to him, only this time I decided to lay on my other side and face him. He was still on his back, his arms behind his head but he was looking down at me.

"Happy now?" I teased, scooting closer.

He smirked and took one of his hands out from behind his head and reached under the covers. I felt his fingers on my thigh as he slid them down my soft skin, leaving a trail of Goosebumps in their wake. He finally curled his fingers around my calf and hitched my leg up over his thigh, then left it there, his hand returning to its proper place behind his head.

"Ecstatic," he whispered.


	5. So Contagious

A/N: Here's chapter 5! Just another little filler. I'm hoping to start getting more into the actual plot of the story within the next couple of chapters, these are all just building up to it. Hopefully it all works out.

Title comes from the song So Contagious by Acceptance, one of my favorites!

Enjoy!

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(Reid's POV)

An alarm sounded a few feet away from where I was sleeping and I knew it wasn't mine. I'd never even heard that song before. I started to roll over to turn it off and realized that I had a body wrapped around me.

My eyes shot open to look down at Callie who was just opening her big green eyes. I remembered suddenly the night before and I had stayed in her bed all night. Shit. I hadn't meant to stay all night, now I would have to deal with Tyler's questions and I was sure he would tell Caleb and Pogue, which meant they'd be skeptical too.

Whatever, fuck it, I didn't care in the least. I'd be telling the truth when I tell them that we didn't do anything but sleep and they probably won't believe me.

Callie's arm was draped across my abdomen and her leg was still in the same position I had put it last night. Her head was on my shoulder and my arm wrapped around her neck. God, how had we gotten so tangled up in each other?

Her green eyes found mind and smiled and I couldn't' help but smile back.

"Morning," she said softly, her eyes fluttering.

"Good morning," I said and then nodded towards the alarm. "You gonna shut that off or should I?"

She sighed and seemed to sink farther into my shoulder. "You can get it."

I wanted to laugh at her. If it were any other girl I would have told her to go to hell, but of course, it was different with her. And I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why.

I rolled slightly and smacked the top of her alarm clock and the alarm ceased. It was seven-fifteen. I needed to shower before classes and I was pretty sure she would want to as well.

"We should get up," I said, my fingers playing with her hair.

She moaned softly and I had to bite my lip at the feeling it sent through me. I wanted to make her moan like that while she was underneath me.

I chuckled. "Come on," I said, sitting up and bringing her with me in my arm.

She sighed and slipped out from under the blankets and I took her body in again. She looked adorable in her little shorts and t-shirt, but not half as good as she did in my clothes yesterday afternoon.

Too bad she didn't want anything from me….I could make her crave sex, just like I did. I knew she was a virgin, she had to be and that made her even more tempting. But I wasn't going to scare her. No, I was going to earn her trust, I wanted her to trust me and then, when she says so – and I say when because I know she will – I'd take her to places she could never imagine.

And I had to get out of that room before all my plans went to shit. Dammit, I always did this to myself and it didn't help that I was always naturally horny in the morning or the fact that her shorts were just a little too short to be safe.

She was pulling a clean uniform out of her closet and I slipped out from under the blankets and pulled on my shoes.

"Can you throw me my shirt?" I asked. I had hung my shirt on the chair at her desk that she was standing next to and she picked it up and tossed it over to me. I caught it with ease and pulled it on over my head. I picked up my jacket from the floor and walked over to the door.

"Would it be weird if I asked you to sit next to me in English?" I asked hesitantly, my hand on the doorknob.

She bit her lip and I suppressed my groan and my growing erection and raised my eyebrows, urging her answer.

She sighed. "I don't know, Matt's in that class with me and he'll probably be mad if I don't sit with him."

I tried to hide my disappointment but I figured that I had almost all of my other classes with her and douchebag Matt wasn't in any of them, so I could afford to miss the first one.

I shrugged. "Alright, I'll see you later then," I said and opened the door, coming face to face with Matt, who had his hand up in the air as if he was just going to knock on the door. His face was priceless as he put everything together.

"Oh, uh…..hi," I mumbled and then looked to Callie, whose eyes were wider than I'd ever seen them.

"What the hell?" Matt growled, looking from Callie to me then back again.

Callie sighed. "Matt, it's not what you think," she told him quickly.

"Oh really, then please explain it to me Callie," he hissed and I glared at him. She didn't deserve to be talked to that way, especially since she'd done nothing wrong. But I knew better not to get involved.

I turned to Callie and offered her a sympathetic smile. "I'm gonna go," I told her and she smiled warmly at me and nodded. I slipped past Matt but not before he made it a point to slam his shoulder into mine. "My bad, dude," I said sarcastically with a huge grin and then turned to walk down the hallway. Jerk.

"Are you kidding me Callie?! Reid fucking Garwin!" Matt started yelling before Callie slammed the door closed and I couldn't hear anymore.

I smiled to myself. Good, get that jerkoff out of the picture, one less person she had to worry about disappointing.

I headed quickly back to my room and opened the door to find Tyler fully showered and getting dressed. He glared at me as I closed the door behind me.

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" he said, shaking his head.

I shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about," I said innocently and went to get a new uniform.

Tyler scoffed. "Spare me the excuses, Reid. I know where you were all night."

"Do you?" I pressed, grabbing a towel and my shower caddy.

"You were in Callie's room. God, Reid, she seemed like a nice girl and you had to go and screw her over."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't know what you're talking about, Tyler."

"Yeah, I highly doubt that," the sarcasm was heavy in his voice.

I knew he wouldn't believe me. "We didn't do anything."

"Yeah, just like you didn't do anything with the last girl that left our room half naked," Tyler joked.

"Whatever Tyler," I growled and headed to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me. I didn't care if he thought I'd slept with Callie, at least it would keep up my reputation.

I showered quickly and was surprised to find that Tyler wasn't in the room when I got back. He probably felt guilty and I laughed at myself as I got dressed into the stupid uniform. When I was dressed and good to go, I grabbed my backpack and headed down to the cafeteria to grab something to eat before classes started.

I was hoping I would see Callie at breakfast but she didn't show. She wasn't a very good eater, I had noticed at Nicky's last night that she'd only eaten a couple fries off of my plate and she hadn't eaten since lunchtime. I wondered idly why that was as I put cream cheese on an un-toasted bagel. I put one end in my mouth and kept the other one in my hand as I headed to my first period class.

Surprisingly, Callie wasn't there yet and I found it odd that I'd beaten her. Usually I was one of the last people to arrive.

I took my usual seat next to Tyler, leaving one open seat next to me, as always. Caleb and Pogue were sitting directly behind us with their girlfriends on either side of them.

"So Reid," Pogue said, leaning in closer to me and I leaned back in my chair. "Tyler said you didn't come back to the room last night. Might I take a guess as to where you were?"

I shrugged and looked back at him. "You can try."

Caleb chuckled and put his arm around Sarah. "You really shouldn't mess with a girl's head like that."

I glared at him. "What do you even know about it, Caleb?"

He didn't answer and I glanced at Sarah who offered me a smile.

"I think you like her," she said with a confident grin.

I scoffed at her words. "What do _you_ even know about it, Sarah?" I repeated mockingly.

She shrugged. "I saw the way you were with her last night."

I just shook my head. "I think she's cool and she's fun to hang out with. We're _friends_," I told them, emphasizing the word. "And despite what you all may think," I said and then purposefully glared at Tyler. "I didn't sleep with her last night."

Before any of them could respond, the door opened and in she walked. She was freshly showered and her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her uniform looked spotless and without any fault.

I looked down to where she usually sat with Matt and saw that he was staring at her, the seat next to him empty. When I looked back to her she was looking at me and I just smirked at her. She looked back at Matt, rolled her eyes and then headed up the steps, not meeting my eyes until she stood at next to the open seat.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked quietly and I saw her glance back down at Matt. They must have gotten into a bigger tiff than I thought this morning when I left, enough to make her not want to sit with him.

I shook my head and she sank down into the seat and took out her notebook from her bag without a word. I didn't mind although I could feel all three of my brother's stares and I refused to look at them.

"Hey Callie," I heard Sarah say from behind me and turned to see her leaning down to smile at the brunette, who turned in her seat and flashed a breathtaking smile.

"Hey Sarah, how are you?" she asked but I could hear the crack in her voice. She was upset.

"I'm alright, just tired and all. Nicky's really wears you out," she said with a giggle.

Callie nodded in agreement. "You're telling me," she said and then met my gaze. "Hi," she said quietly.

I smirked. "Hi yourself," I said and then leaned back in my chair and rested my arm on the back of hers. She tensed at first but then gradually leaned back against my arm and my fingers played with the strands of her hair.

Mr. Simpson walked in and I caught sight of Matt staring up at me…..us. Callie wasn't paying attention and was frantically copying whatever it was the Mr. Simpson was writing on the bored into her notebook. Matt's glare was less than threatening and I couldn't help but smirk at him triumphantly. Maybe if he wasn't such a control freak she'd want to sit next to him.

"Don't you take notes?" Callie whispered about halfway through the class. She had switched her position so that she was leaning closer to me, our shoulders touching. She spoke without taking her eyes off of Mr. Simpson.

"Never," I whispered.

"How do you keep passing classes?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Because I'm the fucking man."

"Mr. Garwin, is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?" Mr. Simpson asked, looking up at me intently. I heard Callie snicker quietly next to me.

I sighed and slouched farther down in my seat. "No sir," I breathed out, my voice heavy with boredom. "Carry on," I told him and saluted him which was awarded with a small chuckle from the class.

"Smooth move, Mr. Garwin," Callie mocked when he turned back around.

"I know," I said confidently then looked at her. She wasn't looking back but I saw her eyes flicker to mine out of the corners.

"Stop staring at me, you're being creepy," she whispered with a hint of a smile on her face.

I smirked and leaned slightly closer. "Good," I said, making sure to brush the back of her neck with my fingertips. She shivered at the feeling and then bit her lip and I closed my eyes, willing myself to stay calm. I had never had a thing for girl's who bit their lip, but she made it look so incredibly sexy and she didn't even know it. "Stop," I demanded and she did and her face flushed with embarrassment.

The end bell finally rang and I sat as Callie gathered up her books and stood to leave. I followed her down the steps and into the hallway, the boys close in pursuit. We had World History next period and Pogue and Sarah were also with us.

"I'll see you at lunch," Caleb said to Sarah and they kissed goodbye, as did Pogue and Kate and the rest went off in their separate ways.

Sarah came up beside Callie and hooked arms with her and I could see Callie trying to look pleased, though I knew she wasn't.

"Sit next to me in History?" she asked with a smile.

Callie nodded and then looked up at me, as if remembering I was in the class as well. "Sit next to me?" she mocked, a smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes playfully at her and we walked into our next class to take our seats.

The morning classes were slow and would have been boring if I didn't have a certain brunette sitting next to me, doodling all over the pages of her notebook. I rested my arm behind her seat again and let my fingers play with her soft hair. I didn't understand my obsession with doing that only that it was because it felt good on my fingertips.

Once our last class before lunch was over, I followed her out of the classroom and she stopped and waited for me.

"Would you and your friends mind if I…sat with you guys at lunch today?" she asked timidly.

My brow furrowed. "Seriously?"

She nodded.

"What about Matt?"

She sighed and looked annoyed. "He's being a douche right now and I don't really feel like being around him."

I chuckled and put my hand on the small of her back, pulling her along beside me. "I'm sure we could find a place for you."

She rolled her eyes and I ignored her putting my hand on her back to pull her along next to me. We walked into the cafeteria and I spotted the guys sitting at our usual table with Sarah, Kate and Chase close in tow. We got in line for the food and Callie handed me a tray to put the lunch on.

I felt Callie shudder next to me as we waited and I realized then how close I was actually standing to her. "What?"

She swallowed and I saw uncertainty in her eyes as she glanced over to the table and looked back at me.

"Do you guys hang out with Chase a lot?" she asked, scooping some macaroni and cheese onto her tray and I did the same.

I shrugged. "He's on the swim team with us and Caleb has to kind of be like his mentor," I explained as we kept moving. She was taking quite a bit of food and I wondered idly if she had finally found her appetite. "Why?"

She licked her lips and I could tell she was nervous. "He just…..I don't know…..he kind of creeps me out. I get a weird feeling when I'm around him."

I laughed at her. "Trust me; I don't think you have anything to worry about with Chase. He's harmless."

She sighed and dropped it as we paid for our lunch and headed over to the table.

"I found a stray," I announced as I set my tray down next to Tyler and Callie set hers next to mine.

"Hey Callie!" Sarah greeted her with a smile. Kate did the same.

"Hey guys," she said and then sat down next to me. "How is everyone?"

They all answered and told her about their mornings. I tried to pay attention but I couldn't help but notice how tense she got when Chase would speak. Christ, I was sitting close enough to her to practically be considered sitting on her. I could see her knuckles turning white from her fist she was making in her lap. I resisted the urge to reach out and take her hand and instead leaned over casually to whisper in her ear.

"Stop being so tense, you're freaking me out."

Her lips twitched with a hint of a smile and her fist unclenched slightly but not enough to my liking. I sighed, giving up and leaning back in my chair.

"Nicky's tonight?" Pogue asked, looking around the table at everyone. Caleb and Sarah both nodded, along with Kate and Chase and obviously Tyler. Everyone looked over at me then, expecting my answer to be the same.

I shrugged. "Nah, I don't really feel like it tonight."

Tyler's mouth fell open and Pogue laughed out loud, obviously thinking I was joking. I kept my face the same and saw Callie looking at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Are you serious?" Kate asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

I nodded.

"What are you going to do?" Tyler gawked, still in utter shock.

I tried not to look at Callie because I didn't want them to know that my plan was to hang out with her all night long without the inconvenience of having Tyler burst in on us every five seconds.

"I'll probably just hang out at the dorm, maybe go see my mom," I explained and everyone seemed to laugh at me, except for Callie who just looked at me with a smile.

"What about you, Callie? Do you want to go to Nicky's tonight?" Sarah asked with a hopeful smile.

That girl didn't miss a beat. "I have a lot of homework to catch up on," she told her and it was very convincing. I wondered if she even knew that I was planning to hang out with her or not. "Missing all those classes sucked."

Everyone seemed to agree and then the subject was changed and I tried to listen but I found myself staring at Callie. Why the hell couldn't I stop myself from doing that?

I looked up as someone passed slowly by to see Matt glaring hatefully at me. Callie saw him too and she just scowled and rolled her eyes.

"I think someone's a little jealous," I mused quietly, not bothering to hide a triumphant smirk.

She raised her eyebrows and sighed. "He's more than jealous I think," she said and turned back around in her seat. "I wish he'd stop acting like such an idiot."

I didn't say anything because I wanted him to keep acting this way. The less time she spent with Matt, the better and the more time she could spend with me.

"So what are you really going to do tonight?" she asked as we sat down at our desks in History. We were the only two in the class together for which I was grateful.

I smirked. "I thought we could hang out. Maybe watch a movie or two?"

She seemed to like that idea.

The rest of the day dragged slowly as I sat with Callie in all of the classes we had together. Her company was nice and she never made me tell her things that I didn't want to tell her. She was easy to talk to and she definitely didn't want me just for sex, which was what I had been used to for a long time.

We headed to the dorm entrance, walking close enough to hold hands but neither of us wanting to take that step.

"So what time can I expect you to be invading my room again?" she asked with a playful smirk.

I sighed. "I've got swim practice until five," I told her, reaching up to tuck a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. What was that? I'd never done that before. "How about I come by with pizza and wings around six?"

Callie smiled. "Pizza and wings; are you trying to butter me up for something?" she asked coyly.

I winked at her, resisting the urge to pull her closer to me. "Guess you'll have to find out," I told her. "Pepperoni and mild wings okay for you?"

She nodded. "I guess that'll do," she said playfully.

I laughed. "Alright, I'll see you at six then," I told her, leaning in slowly to give her the slightest kiss on the cheek.

When I pulled back she eyed me suspiciously. As I opened my mouth to say something, she closed the small distance between us again, this time, her lips landing on mine. I only faltered for a second before I wrapped my arms around her small waist, pulling her closer so that she was pressed up against my body.

Her lips were moving against mine timidly, as if she wasn't sure what to do and I immediately took over, my lips coaxing hers open so that I could slide my tongue into her mouth easily. She moaned into my mouth and I was suddenly thankful that we were in a secluded area of the building. Her fingers traced the line of my jaw and I shivered under her touch. God, what was this girl doing to me?

Finally, we had to pull away to breathe, each one of us taking ragged, uneven breaths as I still held her tightly to my body.

"What was that?" I finally asked her, regaining my breath.

She licked her lips slowly as her face flushed with embarrassment. She looked up at me through her long lashes and smiled the most adorably sexy smile I'd ever seen. "About two days overdue," she told me.

I smiled at her. "Now I'm really disappointed that Tyler's been interrupting us. Is that what I've been missing?"

She shrugged timidly and I knew she was new to this. I leaned in a gently pressed my lips to hers once again, keeping it light this time. "Six o'clock," I whispered against her lips.

She took a deep breath. "Six o'clock," she repeated and then hurried up the stairs, glancing back over her shoulder at me before turning the corner.

Once she was out of sight, I let out the breath I had been holding and ran a hand down my face. Never had I ever been so….effected by a _girl_. Her mere touch had me shaking in my shoes and her kiss…..I'd never kissed a girl with so much…passion.

What was happening to me?


	6. Somewhere in Between

A/N: This one is kind of short. Next chapter should be getting to more of the plot and taking off from there. Hopefully it can all work out. I go to school during the week so it gets kind of hectic trying to find time to write and post so bare with me.

Just a side note - a little Reid and Callie action in this one.

Title is from the song Somewhere in Between by Hawthorne Heights.

Enjoy!

* * *

(Reid's POV)

Swim practice was hell. The whole time all I could think about was spending the night with Callie and as much as I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about our kiss. I replayed it over and over in my head as I sat on the edge of the pool, waiting for my turn in the laps.

How was it possible to only know someone for a few weeks and yet you feel like you've known them your whole life? Didn't that shit just happen in the movies? It never occurred to me that it could actually happen...to me, Reid Garwin of all people.

Callie was different than any other girl I'd ever met and I couldn't figure out why, but I knew that there was no going back. I was hooked on this girl, no matter how bad I tried to deny it.

"So what are you really doing tonight?" Tyler asked sitting down beside me.

"Yeah, gonna go see a certain brunette?" Pogue asked from the pool, swimming over to where we were.

I rolled my eyes. "So what if I am?"

Caleb laughed. "Oh come on guys, leave him alone. We all know how hard it is for him to admit that he actually feels real emotions," he joked and then winked at me. The rest of the guys laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of Reid because he might actually be into a girl for once," I said annoyed.

"So you _do_ like Callie," Tyler concluded with a nod.

I shrugged. "I don't know. She's…..different."

"Yeah, you definitely like her, dude," Pogue informed him. "When a girl seems different to you than any other girl you've had, that means something."

"Yeah, and you've been with a lot of other girls, Reid," Caleb added.

"Thanks Caleb, I wasn't aware," I said with a scowl and the rest of them laughed. I sighed. "I don't know what I'm doing."

Pogue patted me on the back. "Clearly you must be doing something right if she isn't running for the hills yet."

"Yeah, I mean, you've slept with her what….twice now?" Tyler asked.

I groaned. "All we did was sleep," I told them, giving them my most serious look. I didn't want them to get the wrong impression of Callie. "I told you, Callie's different. She doesn't just want to have sex with me. Plus….she's a virgin."

All three boys gaped at him. "Are you serious?" Pogue asked.

I glared at him. "Is that so hard to believe? Does she strike you as a whore?"

"No, no, God no," Pogue said quickly, holding his hands up in defense. "I just…wouldn't have pegged her for a virgin. She's….well I mean she's really cute and-"

"Stop right there before I shove my fist in your mouth," I warned, surprised at my jealousy and protectiveness that I'd apparently claimed over this girl.

"She just seems like the type of girl that would have a boyfriend for a while," Caleb said in Pogue's defense. "You know…the type of boyfriend that she has sex with."

I sighed, thinking about that for a minute. She hadn't actually said out loud yet that she was a virgin, but….she just had to be. She was so timid and….hesitant with sleeping in the same bed as me, watching me change and even kissing me. She had to be virgin. Not that it should matter, I should like her either way. What she's done in the past has nothing to do with me now.

"She's a virgin," I said with finality.

"Well, she's a virgin that's got you hooked, Reid," Caleb said with a smirk. "Welcome to the world of emotion."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks," I mumbled and the whistle blew, indicating for us to get back in the water.

After practice, I headed into the locker room with the rest of the guys to change. I dug into my bag and retrieved my iPhone, seeing that I had several messages from Callie and I couldn't help the stupid shit-eating grin that spread across my face.

To: Reid Garwin

From: Callie Fletcher (4:13PM)

_I'm so bored. Swim practice sucks. _

To: Reid Garwin

From: Callie Fletcher (4:26PM)

_Is it 6:00 yet?_

To: Reid Garwin

From: Callie Fletcher (4:30PM)

_I'm probably being annoying. Sorry._

To: Reid Garwin

From: Callie Fletcher (4:47PM)

_Just ordered the pizza from Nicky's. I put it under Garwin so you have to go pick it up. _

I laughed at her demand and her other texts. She thought she was being annoying when really I loved that she was thinking about me when I wasn't with her.

To: Callie Fletcher

From Reid Garwin (5:07PM)

_I just got done. You weren't being annoying. I'm going to shower and change and I'll go get your pizza, Princess._

I changed back into most of my uniform, leaving my shirt untucked and unbuttoned and shoving my tie and jacket into my backpack and my phone buzzed again.

To: Reid Garwin

From: Callie Fletcher (5:11)

_Hurry up, I'm starving!_

I went back to my dorm room to shower and change into normal clothes and then took Tyler's hummer into town before he left for Nicky's. I picked up the pizza and wings that Callie had put under my name and drove over the speed limit back to school.

Tyler met me in the parking lot, both of us anxious to get to our destinations.

"Chill out, dude, I'm sure she's not going anywhere," Tyler teased as I got out of the car, pulling the pizza and wings out of the backseat. I just glared at him, warning him to shut up. Tyler just laughed and got in the driver's seat and I heard the car pull out of the parking lot as I headed up to the second floor of the dorm hall.

I thought about knocking but thought it would be funnier to see if she had left the door unlocked, expecting me to just barge in. I turned the knob and the door fell open and I stepped through the threshold.

She wasn't in the bedroom but the bathroom door was closed and I could hear the shower running and the high off-pitched humming and singing of the girl who occupied the room.

I laughed to myself and set the food down on her desk. Looking around her room, I found paper plates and a couple of plastic cups and set them with the food. Curious, I walked slowly over to the bathroom door and slowly turned the knob, finding it unlocked. I knew that she shower curtain wasn't see-through and she was still in the shower so I had the perfect opportunity to mess with her. I reached in and quickly flicked off the light switch.

I heard her gasp, her humming stopping immediately. Then she laughed. "Good one, Garwin. You're so scary," she mocked.

He suppressed a laugh. "For someone that's starving you're sure taking your sweet ass time in there."

"Maybe if you hadn't taken four years to get the food I wouldn't have to entertain myself by taking a shower," she retorted.

"Oh, are you not having fun in there? I bet I could make it more interesting for you."

She giggled. "You're such a pervert," she joked and then I heard the water shut off. "Get out of here so I can get dressed."

I laughed. "As you wish, Princess," I said and then shut the door before she could insult me further.

When she came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I was sprawled out on her bed. She was wearing tight black cotton shorts and an oversized grey t-shirt and her long dark hair was dripping wet down her back. It was the hottest thing I'd ever seen.

She looked at me and scowled. "What, were you just waiting for me to come out so I could serve you dinner in bed?"

I laughed and sat up. "On the contrary, I was just resting so that when you came out I could serve you, Princess" I told her, walking over to where she stood with her back facing me. I wrapped my arms slowly around her waist, pulling her back until her body was flush up against mine. It felt so good to have her in my arms again.

She laughed, wiggling in my arms as my fingers started to tease her sides.

"Don't you dare tickle me," she warned with a playful smile. "And stop calling me a Princess, I'm far from one."

I laughed and turned her around in my arms. "You're a princess," I whispered, leaning in to brush my lips against hers.

She rolled her eyes and I leaned in and kissed her. It felt like such a relief to kiss her again. It had been too long since I'd seen her before practice.

Fuck. Was I becoming one of those love-sick teenagers?

Not love. Definitely not love...

We pulled away and she smiled up at me. "That was nice," she said quietly.

I grinned. "Let's have some pizza."

"Have you talked to Matt?" I asked as we were eating. She was sitting on the floor of her room and I was on her bed.

She sighed, wiping her mouth with her napkin. "He's been texting me all day but I haven't answered."

I chuckled, thinking of how pathetic the kid seemed. "Poor guy," I mumbled.

"I don't feel bad at all. He's being an asshole," she said, finishing off the last of her slice of pizza. She hadn't even finished one slice by the time I was done with three. Sometimes I wondered how I managed to keep in shape like I did when I seemed to eat like a cow every day. "He thinks he can control everything that I do. He thinks that by doing that that he can protect me….so that I don't end up like-" she cut off, her voice cracking at the mention of her best friend and I saw the tears forming in her eyes.

I sighed. Damn him for making her feel like this. "He cares about you, Callie."

She sniffed, wiping her eyes. "I know," she said, still not looking up at me. "And I care about him too just…"

"Not in the way that he wants you to," I finished for her. "You don't have to be ashamed that you don't like him back. You can't help who you like, Callie. Believe me."

She looked up at me then and smiled through her tears, knowing that I was talking about her. She wiped her eyes again. "God, why am I still crying over this?"

"Because you just lost your best friend," I said, raising my eyebrows at her. "I'd be worried if you weren't still crying about it."

She eyed me suspiciously before standing and joining me on the bed. "You know, I never took you for someone who was good at consoling other people."

I shrugged, scooting over to make room for her. "That's because I don't usually do it."

"So why are you doing it for me?"

I sighed, lifting up my arm to wrap her around her back, pulling her closer to me. "I have no freaking idea," I told her and she laughed, leaning into me and resting her head against my shoulder. She felt so right next to me and I'd be damned if I ever let her go.

"I really don't think that you're the badass that you make yourself out to be," she said, nudging my shoulder.

I looked at her through the corner of my eye. "Oh is that so?"

She nodded with a small smile on her face. "I think that you just like to put up that kind of front because you don't want people to see that you're actually a pretty decent guy."

"A pretty decent guy?" I asked with a laugh. "Is that all?"

She shrugged. "I think that's a stretch."

I gave her a look of warning and I saw the recognition in her eyes. She started to move off the bed but I grabbed her by the waist fast. She let out a yelp as I pulled her to me and she straddled my waist. I tickled her sides and she writhed against me, laughing and pleading at me to stop.

"This isn't helping your case!" she cried as I continued my assault on her sides. "Okay, okay! You win!" she yelled through laughs and intakes of breath. "Reid!"

I was laughing with her when I finally stopped. She tried to get off of my lap but I rather liked this position so I held tight to her hips, keeping her in place. She looked down at me with a smile and wannabe-evil eyes.

"You're a brat," she told me, sliding her hands up over my shoulders.

I smirked at her. "You started it," I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know why I even let you in my room."

I leaned up closer until our faces were just inches away. "It's because I'm an outstanding kisser."

She cocked an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"You wanna bet?" I challenged and we held gazes and I noticed that she was trying her hardest not to smile.

"Bring it on," she whispered.

I wasted no more time, leaning up and taking her mouth. She responded immediately, sliding her tongue against my lower lip and I couldn't help the growl that escaped my throat. Her arms wrapped around my neck and I pulled her in closer by her hips, her whole torso pressed against mine. It felt incredible.

She was sitting above me and her long, chocolate curls fell down around both of our faces, leaving us in our own secluded bubble. My lips coaxed hers open and I slipped my tongue inside. She tasted so good despite the fact that we had just eaten pizza. I wanted to devour her, she was so addicting. My tongue traced along her teeth and she moaned and I felt my pants tighten. My hands on her waist tightened and she moved against me, making it even tighter and she moaned again. Her fingers gripped the hair on the back of my head, pulling slightly to angle my face up towards her even more, the little minx.

Our kisses became more urgent and we were moving against each other. She was making sounds that I never thought I would hear her make. We had to break away to gain our breath back and my lips went to her neck, kissing, sucking and nibbling, unafraid of marking her. She was mine.

Without thinking about it, my hands traveled lower to her ass that was covered by her thin cotton shorts. I heard her intake of breath as my fingers gripped her, not too hard but enough to make her feel it.

"Reid," she said breathlessly, her voice quiet. I grunted against her skin, still kissing and still gripping her ass. "Reid, wait," she said quicker. I heard the distress in her voice and instantly pulled back to look at her, my hands falling away from her. She looked frightened and I immediately regretted the make-out session.

"Too fast," I answered and she nodded, looking regretful. "I'm sorry, Callie."

"No, no, it's not you," she said quickly, reaching up and placing a hand against my cheek and I leaned into her touch. "It's me. I'm just….not ready."

I licked my lips and dropped my head to rest it against her chest, right above her heart. She wrapped her arms around my neck again, her fingers ran through my hair and I sighed in contentment.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking up at her. "Really, I went too far. I don't want you to do something that you don't want to do."

She smiled warmly at me and leaned down to lightly kiss my lips. "I'm sorry too. I know that you aren't used to….waiting."

I smirked. "No, I'm not," I told her honestly and reached up to cup her cheek, my thumb stroking her soft skin. "But that doesn't mean that I won't."

After she finally climbed off of my lap, I changed into a pair of shorts and picked out a movie on Netflix. I felt bad for pressuring Callie, even if she said that I wasn't. It was just so hard to control myself around her. She made me forget about everything except for her.

Even though I was a softy when it came to Callie, I still didn't let her pick out the movie and I ended up picking an action movie starring Brad Pitt. She didn't seem to mind as we laid down in her bed, her back to me and my arm wrapped around her waist.

"This is becoming quite a regular thing, isn't it?" she said as the movie started.

I tightened my arm around her, pulling her even closer to me. "You better believe it, babe," I told her and then kissed her hair.

She was asleep halfway through the movie and I couldn't believe it. The movie was actually pretty interesting about the apocalypse or some shit. I didn't care that she was asleep; I actually liked to watch her sleep. She seemed to have nightmares and I liked to be able to stop them before they happened so she wouldn't get scared.

I slept in her room again that night with her nestled into the crook of my neck like we'd been sleeping in the same bed like that for years.


	7. Do You Wanna Burn It With Me?

A/N: Just an FYI this story is based on the movie and will sometimes go along with the plot of the movie and sometimes it won't. I'm adding my own twists and events, so just bear with me. I don't own anything but my own characters!

I'm not too sure about this chapter, it's pretty short and kind of dull, but it's all just leading up to the bigger events I guess - Callie finds out about Reid and the other boys' powers soon!

Title is from the song City by Hollywood Undead.

Enjoy!

* * *

The next morning Reid and I woke up and went our separate ways after a quick morning make-out session. I couldn't deny that I loved to kiss him. I thought about the night before and the kiss and passionate moment we'd shared before my mini panic attack.

Thinking about the night before gave me chills. I wasn't sure why I'd pushed Reid away; the only reason I could think of was that I was scared. He had so much experience and I had so little. I still didn't quite understand what he saw in me. I was so ordinary compared to him.

I tried not to think about it and went to work getting my uniform on.

The days went on like that with Reid. We would go to our classes, hang out after his practice and he would usually end up sleeping in my room. I was fine with it. We hadn't gotten much farther than kissing, although I was gradually starting to become more comfortable with him and I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before I allowed us to kick it up a notch.

It made my heart swell at the fact that Reid was being patient with me. I couldn't imagine how many other girls he would have kicked to the curb if they told him that they weren't ready for sex – which was why I was still unsure as to why he stuck around with me.

I was becoming closer with Reid's friends too, going to Nicky's with them and even doing some dress shopping with Kate and Sarah for the fall dance that Reid had invited me to go to. It was nice to talk to girls again although it really made me miss Hannah. Matthew still had yet to apologize and until he did, I wasn't even acknowledging him. I sat with Reid in all of my classes and got to talk with Sarah and Kate. I went to lunch and sat with them and felt content where I was.

My contentment always ended when Chase showed up.

There was just something about him that I couldn't shake. He gave me the creeps and I tried my best not to interact with him although I think he tried his best to do the opposite. I was polite and answered his pestering questions just because he was Reid's 'friend' and I didn't want to cause controversy. Reid knew how I felt about him and always made a point to have his arm around me possessively when Chase was around.

Even Pogue was now starting to question Chase, feeling the same feelings that I did whenever he was around. We had talked about it and neither one of us could figure out why we felt that way and when we told Caleb about it, he just brushed it off, saying that we were just overreacting.

I didn't think so. Chase gave me the creeps.

It was the last period of the day and I had it without Reid. It was a Friday and had been two weeks since the time in my bedroom. I sat in my usual seat near the window and longed to be outside with the blonde boy that had somehow fit into my life. Not that I was complaining.

As the teacher rambled on about the French Revolution, I felt my phone vibrate in my jacket pocket and I successfully retrieved it without getting caught. My heart jumped, thinking it was Reid sending me a cute text but frowned when I saw that it was Matt. I sighed and hit the button to view the message.

To: Callie Fletcher

From: Matt Rivers (2:36PM)

_Hey. Can we talk after classes? Please Callie._

I swallowed, thinking about how the conversation with Matt would go and if I really wanted to do it. Reid had swim practice until five again and then we were hanging out in my room tonight. I was probably going to have to tell him that so that he would be gone by five.

On the other hand, I missed Matt. He was my best friend and I missed talking to him and talking about stupid things with him. I wanted to make up with him but wasn't going to bother if he wasn't going to stop being a jerk about Reid.

To: Matt Rivers

From: Callie Fletcher (2:39PM)

_Sure. Come to my room after last period._

I felt satisfied. I wasn't going to make it seem like I was ready to give in easily. If he wanted to make up, then we were going to have to straighten a few things out. He texted me back an _'Ok'_ and that was all. My stomach was in knots now. Should I tell Reid? It's not like Matt and I were going to do anything but also Reid and I weren't really together so would it matter if we did?

Obviously I hoped that Reid _would_ care if I was trying to get with someone else. But I still had that sense of doubt.

As I walked out of the classroom a hand wrapped around my waist and I let out an unexpected yelp.

"Expecting someone else?" Reid's voice asked in my ear, pulling me against his body. His teeth nibbled on my lobe and I giggled from the tickle it sent through my body.

I pushed him off gently, allowing him to keep his arm around my waist. "Of course not, I'm just not used to having a blonde haired, arrogant jerk grab my waist all the time," I teased.

He rolled his eyes as we walked, heading for my dorm building. Everyone was staring at us, probably wondering what in the hell Reid was doing with someone like me. It was kind of amusing to see all of the different girls giving me dirty looks, wishing it was them on that had that famous Reid Garwin's attention.

"Are you gonna miss me while I'm at practice?" he asked, nudging me in the shoulder.

I sighed dramatically. "Oh I don't know, I just have so much homework to do, I'm not sure if I'll have time to miss you."

He raised his eyebrows at me, the same look he had given me the other night, right before things got out of hand. I gave him a stern look, warning him not to do anything like that in public.

"I'm just kidding," I assured him with a smile. We were stopped at the stairs that led up to the second floor dorms. "But I should get going. I really do have a lot of homework. And….Matt's coming over."

His eyes narrowed. "He's coming to your room?"

I nodded. "Just for a little while. He wants to talk and….I do too," I saw the anger in his eyes and I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek. "He's my best friend, Reid."

He sighed and reached up and took my hand in his. "I know," he said quietly. "I just…don't trust him."

I laughed and leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'll be fine," I assured him. "Now you better get to practice before you're late. I'll see you later."

"Can't wait," he said and leaned in for one more kiss before leaving. I smiled to myself and then headed up to my dorm.

When I rounded the corner I came to stop when I looked up and saw Matt leaning against the wall. He looked up when he heard me coming and I saw the relief in his eyes. I offered him a small smile and walked passed him to unlock my door.

We both entered my room and I dropped my backpack on the floor and shrugged off my jacket. He did the same and stood near the door with his hands in his pockets.

I turned to face him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Okay. You're here. Let's talk."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't be like that," he said annoyed.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What do you expect, Matt? You've been a complete douche."

He licked his lips and took a deep breath. "Can we please just try to have a civil conversation? I'm sick of fighting with you."

"Yeah well, so am I," I admitted. "But it's hard not to fight with you when you're acting like this."

"Come on, Callie. You can't tell me that I don't have a right to be mad."

"What are you even mad about, Matt? Please, enlighten me."

He was staring intently at me, obviously displeased that I was asking him a question I already knew the answer to. He hated when I did that.

"You know why."

"Because I'm hanging out with Reid? Because I made another friend? Are you mad because you're not the center of my attention anymore, Matt?"

He threw his hands up. "I was never the center of your attention Callie! As much as I wanted to be….I never was."

"Don't make this about me not having feelings for you. You know I can't help that."

"So that doesn't mean you run off and start sleeping around with Reid fucking Garwin!"

My eyes widened and my nostrils flared. "I told you that I haven't slept with him! You know me better than that Matthew. I can't believe you would even say that." How dare him.

"Yeah but it's only a matter of time," he hissed, clenching his fists. "He's not going to wait forever, Callie. Sooner or later, he's going to get bored with you and move on to the next slut."

My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that he would say something like that. I stared at him with a dumbfounded look on my face and watched as realization crossed his at what he just said.

"You know what," I started walking up to him and shoving hard against his chest, slamming him up against my door. His eyes widened in shock, obviously unprepared for the push and he stared at me. "Maybe he won't have to wait much longer. He's coming to my room later, maybe I'll just break down and let him take my virginity tonight! And then, maybe a couple more times during the night, who knows!"

His face dropped. "Callie stop it, I didn't mean that-"

"Yes you did," I growled through clenched teeth and shoved at his chest again. "What Reid and I do is _none_ of your business, Matt. Get that through your thick skull."

Matt's eyes softened and he reached up, gently taking my wrists in his hands. "Callie, I just want things to go back to how they used to be."

"Things will never be how they used to be!" I almost shrieked, ripped my hands from his grasp and stepping back. "Hannah is dead! Things will never be the same!"

"That doesn't mean that you have to change, Cal."

I shook my head as tears clouded my vision. I hadn't thought of Hannah for a while and my stomach lurched at the mention of her name. "Yes it does."

He swallowed hard and walked towards me, gripping my arms softly. The tears in my eyes were falling now and I was having trouble keeping my sobs in my chest. I tried to pull away but he held me firm.

"Callie, I just don't want to see you get hurt by him. He's a user, a manipulator, an asshole."

"You don't know anything about him!"

"I don't have to! He's not that hard to read, Callie!" he sighed angrily, releasing my arms. "And you following after him like some lost puppy isn't making you look any better. People are talking."

"I don't give a shit what they're saying, none of it's true," I hissed and then shoved at his chest again. "And if you're stupid enough to believe their word over mine then why don't you just remove yourself from the situation completely?"

He glared at me. "What are you saying? You want me to leave?"

I shrugged and threw my hands up. "You seem like you want to, now's your opportunity."

He shook his head and laughed but it held no trace of humor. "You're ridiculous, Callie, you know that? All I'm trying to do is help you and you just keep pushing me away." He stalked towards the door, grabbing his jacket off the chair and reaching for the doorknob. "You want me to leave, fine, I'm leaving, but don't expect me to come running to your side when he hurts you and you need a shoulder to cry on," he said with a final huff before opening the door, walking out and slamming it shut.

I sat down on my bed, breathing heavily and trying to catch my breath. I wasn't planning on fighting with Matt when I saw him, I wanted to try and sort everything out but now….it was even worse.

I put my head in my hands, trying to calm the pounding in my forehead. Maybe I _was_ being ridiculous, but so was he. If he would just realize that I didn't have feelings for him and probably never would, we could both move on and be friends again.

It was times like these when I realized just how big of a part Hannah played in my life. She was the one person that I could talk to about everything, no matter how annoyed I got with her sometimes. When Matt was being stupid, I could talk to her about it and she would usually give me some sort of advice as to how to fix it. Now I had to do it all by myself and I wasn't sure if I could.

A knock came at the door and I looked up towards the sound. I sighed, figuring it was Matt coming back to apologize and actually talk.

I got up and headed to the door, mentally preparing myself to talk to Matt again when I opened the door, looking up and realizing that the boy standing in front of me wasn't Matthew.

It was Chase.

"Hello Callie."

The hair on my arms stood straight up and I swallowed as I stared at Chase. He was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest and he was staring at me with smug eyes, his lips curled into a half smile.

"Chase," I breathed, closing the door slightly, wishing I could put as much distance between us as possible. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Just thought I'd stop by, see what you were up to. May I come in?"

"Shouldn't you be at swim practice with the guys?" I asked, ignoring his question.

He sighed, not losing the smug look on his face. "Practice ended early."

My brow furrowed. If that was true, why hadn't Reid texted me? I realized that I hadn't checked my phone since I got back to my room so he might have.

"Why?"

I could see that he was getting annoyed with my prying questions. "Caleb and I were racing and he didn't realize how close we were to the edge and smashed his head into the side of the pool. He almost drowned, but I saved him. Coach decided to give us the rest of the day off."

"Where are they?" I asked as I kept trying to close the door a couple inches at a time. Something about this kid really made my senses go wild and not in a good way.

"I think they all went to Caleb's, I'm not really sure. I was too worried about getting here before Reid."

My eyes widened involuntarily and my heart sped up. "Why?"

He smiled, a set of dazzling pearly whites that sent shivers down my spine. "Let me in, Callie."

"No," I told him, trying not to let the fear in my voice show. "I…I was just leaving."

He chuckled, obviously realizing that I was lying. "Come on, Callie. I just want to talk."

I bit my lip nervously. Why was he here? Why wouldn't he leave me alone? "What do you want to talk about? There isn't anything to talk about. I don't even know you."

His answering smile was evil and I knew then that there was something he wasn't telling me. "You will. Soon you will see that we have a lot more in common than you care you think, Callie," he shoved his hands back into his pockets and offered me a wink. "See you around." And with that, he left, leaving me confused and pissed off. God dammit, where was Reid?

I rushed back into my room, slamming the door shut and locking it. I grabbed my phone, seeing that I had messages from Reid and I sighed in relief.

To: Callie Fletcher

From: Reid Garwin (3:45Pm)

_Practice ended early. I'm going to Caleb's with the guys for a while. I'll be back as soon as I can. _

To: Callie Fletcher

From: Reid Garwin (3:58PM)

_I'm assuming Matt's still there and you're still trying to work things out, that's why you're not answering. Hope he's behaving. See you soon._

I smiled at his Matt remark and resisted the urge to tell him about it via text message and instead typed something cute.

To: Reid Garwin

From: Callie Fletcher (4:14PM)

_Hurry back or else I won't be able to behave myself when I see you._

Grinning, I set my phone down and started to take out my books to do homework when my phone began ringing. It was Reid.

"Hey," I answered happily. "Where are-"

"Callie, listen to me, I'm coming to get you," he said hastily and I heard the worry in his voice.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"You were right about Chase. I'll explain more when I see you. Pack a bag; we're not staying at the dorms this weekend. Don't open the door for anybody, okay?"

My eyes widened. "Okay." He hung up and I did the same.

I was right about Chase? Oh God, something must have happened. But what could he have done?

Confused, I packed a bag for the weekend, including toiletries, my phone charger, homework and clothes and stuffed it all into a duffle bag. I sat and waited nervously on my bed, door locked and knees shaking.

When the knock sounded at the door I was hesitant to answer it.

"Callie, its Reid, let me in, baby."

I shot up off the bed, nearly running into the door. I unlocked it and wrenched it open and Reid's arms were around me in that instance, holding me tightly, tighter than he had ever held me before. I wrapped my arms around his back, hugging him as well.

"Thank God you're okay," he mumbled into the crook of my neck.

He was scared – scared for my safety. What happened?

"Reid what's going on?" I asked, my voice shivering.

He let me go then and went to grab my duffle that sat on the bed. "I'll explain when we get to the hotel."

"Hotel?" I asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. He locked my door for me and shoved the key into his jeans pocket and then took my hand again and we were nearly running down the stairs. "Why are we going to a hotel?"

"Everyone's there," he told me as we made it outside and headed for the parking lot. We found Tyler's hummer and he opened the passenger door for me, helped me inside and then slammed the door shut. In the next second, he was in the driver's seat. I hadn't even seen him move. I stared at him in surprise, obviously confused.

"Callie, I _promise_ when we get to the hotel, I'll explain everything but right now, Chase is out there and he's looking for us. We have to get to the hotel."

I gulped and nodded slowly. "Okay." He smiled apologetically at me and then reached over to rest his hand on my thigh. I couldn't help the shivers that ran down my back and I linked my fingers with his as he peeled out of the parking lot.

The sun was beginning to set and it made the roads of Ipswich even gloomier than they usually were. As we drove at a pace that was much higher than the speed limit to whatever hotel Reid's friends were waiting at, I couldn't help but get the strange, unwanted feeling that we were being watched.


	8. Have Faith In Me

A/N: Hey guys! Here's chapter 8! I hope you guys like it because I had a lot of fun writing it! It's definitely one of my favorite chapters so far! I'm not going to give anything away in this little note, you're just going to have to read and find out! I hope it's up to your expectations.

Title is from the song Have Faith in Me by A Day to Remember.

Enjoy!

* * *

(Callie's POV)

"What else did he say to you?" Caleb questioned as we all sat in the hotel room. We had been going back and forth like this for half an hour and we were still no closer to figuring out what we were going to do about Chase.

Reid and I had arrived safely at the room, which was about fifteen miles outside of Ipswich and we were hoping far away enough that Chase wouldn't find us. All of the boys were there, along with Sarah and Kate, for which I was grateful. It was nice to have some girls there who also had no idea what the hell was going on.

I sighed. "He just said that we have more in common than I know," I told him and glanced up at Reid who was standing a few feet away from me with his arms crossed over his chest and an angry look on his face.

"Do you know what that means?" Caleb asked.

I shook my head. "No, not a clue," I admitted, trying to rack my brain for anything that I could think of and coming up empty. "I've barely ever talked to the kid, how could he know that we have anything of common interest?"

Caleb ran a hand over his face, obviously frustrated. "He means something by it, we just have to try to figure out what. Maybe if you could try to talk to him again-"

"Absolutely fucking not!" Reid nearly yelled from his place near the door. "She's not going anywhere near that psychopath again. How could you even suggest that Caleb? He's dangerous, a threat to all of us, including Callie."

I looked up at Reid with soft eyes, grateful that he was fighting for me and was so concerned for my well-being, even if he may be going a bit overboard.

"Reid, it might be our only way to see what he's up to," Pogue countered quickly. "He could've hurt her in the dorms but he didn't, maybe that's a sign that he doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"Or he's just testing us, wanting us to give someone up so that he can hurt them! No, I won't let it happen. She's not going."

"You're being unreasonable," Caleb growled, standing up.

"Am I? Would you do it? Would you let Sarah walk into a situation like that unprotected?" Reid asked pointedly, looking at Sarah and then at me and then back to Caleb again. When he didn't answer, Reid laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Forget about it. There's no way."

I let out a breath of relief at the conclusion of me not having to go anywhere near Chase again. Reid was right, it could be just a trick, we would never know, but why risk anybody getting hurt.

"You know we could protect her," Caleb said lowly and I had to make sure that I heard him correctly. I looked at him in confusion, wanting to know what he meant.

Reid rolled his eyes. "I thought we weren't going to play that card."

Caleb shrugged. "Maybe I changed my mind."

"You can't be serious, Caleb," Tyler said from his place leaning against one of the dressers.

"I think it's a good idea," Pogue agreed with Caleb and they looked at Reid.

The blonde let his head fall back in obvious annoyance. "I've wanted to tell her for weeks," he said, looking over at me and smiling. My eyes narrowed in interest. What were they all babbling on about?

Tyler groaned. "Guys, this is crazy! I know we're in trouble but it doesn't mean we have to go around telling everybody! Caleb, you're always going on about how we have to keep it a secret."

"I know, Ty," Caleb huffed, closing his eyes. "But it's the only way to make sure that their all safe."

"Just because we're going to tell them doesn't mean that I'm going to let Callie get within a hundred feet of the asshole," Reid warned, resuming his position at the door, leaning against the frame.

Caleb sighed. "We'll see," he said and then turned to us three girls, his face sullen and indifferent.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded and both of the other girls seemed to do the same.

"There's something that we've been keeping from you guys," he started, his voice deep and calm. "Something that's going to be hard for you all to believe, but you're going to have to trust me…..us," he corrected, looking over his shoulder at both Reid and Pogue.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Caleb finished talking and I sat there…probably looking just as stunned as the other two girls sitting next to me.

Apparently, these four boys were Warlocks, descendants from the families that lived during the Salem Witch Trials. They possess what they call, "The Power" and can do things like move inanimate objects, control fire and water, and other forms of magic. It all sounded crazy to me at first but when I thought back to some of the events that I couldn't explain with Reid, it kind of made sense. All those times that I had thought I saw a flame in Reid's eyes, it was him using magic. Just tonight when he had suddenly appeared at the other side of the car, it was magic. As unbelievable as it all was….I _did_ believe it.

"So what does Chase have to do with any of this?" I asked, still not fully satisfied with his answers.

Caleb nodded. "There was a fifth family along with ours that got banished for provoking The Power and performing it in dangerous areas where it was easy to be seen. We thought that the family had died off shortly after banishment, but apparently that wasn't the case because Chase is here now and he has The Power."

"How do you know this?"

"Today at practice, I saw it in his eyes. He was using The Power to beat me in the race. Then he stopped Pogue this afternoon while he was on his way to my place."

"He pulled a tree out of the ground and threw it across the road," Pogue stated out loud. "I was lucky to have stopped before I ran into the damn thing."

Reid spoke then, directing his question at me. "Remember that night I woke up because I said I had a dream that you were lying next to me, dead and bleeding?" I nodded quickly, flinching at the thought of him having that terrible dream. "It was a darkling and Chase sent it to me."

"I've gotten a couple of those too," Tyler said quietly, his face sad. "They were of Hannah."

My eyes widened and my heart ached at the mention of my friend. Why was Tyler being sent dark images of Hannah? How did Chase even know her?

"Then he goes and approaches Callie personally," Caleb said, bringing me back to the room. "He wants something and we need to figure out what it is before someone gets hurt."

"Can't you guys just use your powers or something to like…get rid of him?" Kate asked, still dumbfounded by the information she had just received.

"That would be ideal if we even knew where he was," Reid said with an annoyed sigh.

"Which is why I think we should see if he'll talk to Callie," Caleb suggested again. "We could be nearby when she meets up with him, we'd be able to protect her if anything were to go wrong."

"I said no, Caleb," Reid hissed. "That's it."

I took a deep breath. In a way, I was starting to agree with Caleb. Chase didn't seem like he wanted to hurt me, only that he wanted to know more about me and wanted me to know more about him. Maybe I could help the guys out by talking to him, try to gain a little more information that would allow them to have an advantage on Chase.

"It's getting late," Reid finally huffed, looking at me intently. "You wanna go to bed?" he asked.

I swallowed and nodded, getting up to stand next to him. "Goodnight, guys. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight," Caleb said with a sympathetic smile. "Make sure you guys lock the doors and the windows. Tyler and Pogue are going to be taking the first watch."

"Let me know when you need to be relieved of your duties," Reid said sarcastically as he pushed open the door to our adjoining room. "Until then, we'd like to not be disturbed."

I smiled at our group of friends and waved before Reid closed the door harshly and stalked to the door to lock the deadbolt and the lock on the doorknob before making sure that the windows were sealed and locked tightly.

I knew he was aggravated and I wasn't sure if he really wanted to talk about it or not so I just went to my duffle bag to grab a pair of shorts, t-shirt and a new pair of underwear.

"I'm gonna take a shower," I said quietly as he paced the room. I hesitated at first but then walked up to him to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

"Keep the door cracked," he ordered and then kissed my lips almost roughly.

I blushed and scurried to the bathroom to shower before he could notice.

While I was in the shower, I couldn't help but think about what Caleb had said. It made sense for me to try and talk with Chase. Clearly there was some underlying reason why he was at my door today and he clearly wanted to talk to me but I wouldn't let him. I really could just try; it wouldn't hurt, would it? And the boys could protect me; Caleb had even said that they would.

Reid would never agree to it. He was too worried about my safety.

But why should he be? Didn't he and his friends have supernatural abilities that could protect me? I was still dealing with the fact that my sort-of boyfriend was a warlock and could do magic. I mean, didn't stuff like that just happen in the movies? Not in real life. Not in _my_ life.

I shut off the scalding hot water and dried off with one of the hotel towels and dressed in my pajamas, leaving off my bra because I couldn't stand sleeping with one on and brushed my hair, leaving it dripping wet down my back. I opened the door and walked into the bedroom to find Reid sitting on the bed, head in his hands, back facing me. He had changed out of his jeans and t-shirt and was now in a pair of grey sweatpants and a white tank top.

My eyes traveled over the muscles in his arms and the ones that were clearly visible through the thin fabric of his shirt. God, he was so sexy, even when he looked so….troubled. I still couldn't get over that he was still in to me.

I took a deep breath and padded silently over to stand in front of him. I lightly ran my fingertips up both of his biceps to his shoulders, barely touching him but knowing that it ignited a feeling inside of him when I did it. He looked up at me through his long lashes, his face wanton and almost seductive and it made my stomach clench.

His hands slid around my waist, pulling me closer until I was straddling his lap, my knees on either side of him digging into the mattress. I looked down at him and he looked up at me and we were lost in a moment of content silence, neither of us needing to speak.

"I was worried about you today," he said quietly, not taking his eyes off of my face.

I smirked. "Were you?" I teased. "Well, it's nice to know you think about me once and a while when you're away."

He rolled his eyes and matched my smirk. "I wish it was only once and a while," he whispered and licked his lips. "It's more like every fucking minute of every fucking day," he growled and his hand came up to the back of my neck to pull me down to meet his mouth as he kissed me. It was deep and needy and I knew that he meant what he had said. He was worried about me and this was his way of showing that.

I matched his kiss with equal fervor, the events of the day causing me to be overwhelmed and left nothing but frustrated. I needed to be relieved of that frustration and so did he and we could do that with each other.

My hands cradled his face as our tongues intertwined. His taste had become so familiar to me and it had become one of my favorites. His teeth bit down lightly on my lower lip and I grinned into his lips, one of my hands slipping around to clutch the back of his hair tightly, eliciting a growl from low in his throat.

We broke the kiss to let each other breathe and I rested my chin on his shoulder, pressing feather-light kissed to his neck, while he did the same to my earlobe.

"I don't know what I would have done if Chase had hurt you today," he whispered in my ear. "I should have been there."

I sighed. "You didn't know he would come to my room," I told him, sitting back to look at him. "No one did. It's not your fault Reid. Nothing happened anyways, I'm perfectly okay."

He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah and now Caleb wants you to do it all over again."

I licked my lips, still tasting him there and savoring it for a moment. "Maybe it's not such a bad idea."

Reid glared at me before letting his head fall back with a groan. "Not you too!" He gently pushed me off of his lap so he could stand up and pace to the door again. "Don't listen to him, Callie. Caleb isn't concerned about you and will do anything to save his own ass."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't believe that," I told him, crossing my arms on my chest and sitting up straight on the bed. "He cares about all of you Reid and he wants to protect you guys and your secret."

"Yeah and I want to protect you," he countered, his voice harsh and stern. He was completely serious. "And in order to do that, I need to keep you away from Chase."

"But why? I don't think he wants to hurt me, Reid! Don't you think if he wanted to hurt me he would have done it?"

He just shook his head. "No, Callie."

I threw my hands up and fell back against the bed with a dramatic sigh. He chuckled from his spot near the door.

"You're insufferable," I said with a smile and he heard my playful tone.

"And you're annoyingly persuasive," he said with laugh.

I look up at him. "So you're going to let me do it?" I asked excitedly.

"I never said that you had persuaded _me_, I just said you were good at it," he said firmly and I sighed. I felt him sit on the bed next to me and then he was leaning over me so that I was looking up at him. His hand rested on my knee, thumb stroking lightly. "It's not going to happen, baby. You might as well stop fighting."

I stared up into his eyes for a moment, as I searched for the right words to say.

"Okay," I whispered, reaching down to grab his wrist and move it up higher on my thigh. I watched as his eyes widened and his hand tensed against my skin as I left it at the hem of my shorts. "I'm done fighting it."

I was ready dammit. I was sick of all of the sexual tension between the two of us, it was becoming too much for me to handle. He had made it clear that he cared for me and he had stuck around this long, I think it was time for both of us to finally cross over that line. I wanted this tonight and I knew he wanted it to.

"Callie," his whisper was strained, his eyes on his hand that was resting higher on my thigh than it had ever been.

I leaned up and kissed him lightly, moving my mouth against his slowly and as seductively as I could. "Reid," I breathed, kissing a trail from his mouth to his cheek and his jawbone and then up to his ear where I sucked on his lobe for a second. "I'm ready," I whispered in his ear.

His answering groan made my inside churn in a good way as he kissed me again, only this time is was rough and urgent and full of…want and need. Our kisses were frenzied and almost sloppy, both of us breathing heavy and full of nerves.

He broke apart from my lips only to travel down to my neck, nipping and kissing and all I could do was feel and enjoy, running my fingers through his soft blonde hair.

"Are you sure?" he asked into my shoulder. One of his hands was inside of my shirt, gripping on my hip, the other pressing into the mattress next to my head.

I licked my lips and nodded. "God yes, Reid, I've never been more sure about anything."

He chuckled and leaned back to look at me with a smile. "It's about damn time," he chided.

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Oh shut up and get on with it," I urged, wriggling underneath him.

He looked at me sideways, a knowing look in his eyes. "I don't think so, babe. I'm going to savor every moment of this and take my time," and with that, he kissed me again, this time slower and more passionate, his tongue lightly stroking mine and my mouth, running across my lower lip. I moaned quietly into his mouth as my hands traveled to the bottom of his shirt and began pulling it up his torso. He realized what I was doing and broke apart from my lips to let me pull it over his head and drop it to the floor.

I was glad that the bedside lamp was still on so I could look at him. I'd seen him shirtless before, but never like this. Never before we were about to….do it. His abs were chiseled perfectly and I couldn't stop myself from running my fingers down his chest and stomach, reveling in the feel of him against my skin. He was so freaking gorgeous it made me nervous what he was going to think of me.

I was brought out of my worrying when I felt his hand that was inside my shirt move upwards on my stomach slowly. My breathing hitched in my throat and I tried not to let him notice but I knew it was useless.

He was looking at me with nothing but concern. "We don't have to," he reminded me, his hand moving back down.

I shook my head quickly. "No, no, I want to," I assured him. "Don't stop."

He licked his lips and nodded, keeping his eyes on mine as he started moving his hand up again. I bit my lip as I felt his fingers graze my right breast, cupping it gently. It only took me a moment to get over to weirdness of it to realize that it felt….good. His fingers brushed over my nipple, making it hard and he started to pinch it and play with it and my mouth opened and I couldn't help the moan that I let out at the feeling of him playing with my breast like that. It was something I'd never felt before in my life.

Within another minute, my shirt was being pulled over my head and thrown onto the floor to join his and I was left exposed to his waiting eyes. I watched as his eyes wandered over my chest, taking in the sight of me with intrigue.

He looked at me and smiled. "Fucking perfect," he grumbled and then leaned down to kiss me. He slowly made his way from my mouth to my neck, to my shoulder, leaving a trail of saliva in his wake. He finally got low enough and I clenched my fists into the sheets as his mouth closed over a nipple, his tongue swirling around it and nipping gently. I closed my eyes and involuntarily arched my chest up into his mouth. His other hand came up to cup the other one as his mouth attacked my left one. It felt so good.

"Reid," I breathed, my hand clutching the hair at the back of his head for support.

He continued his assault and then switched to the other one, bringing out the same feelings. I felt liquid pooling between my thighs, which I knew was normal, but I couldn't help feeling slightly embarrassed and he kissed down my stomach to my belly button, dipping his tongue into my naval, causing me to shiver.

His fingers slipped underneath the waistband of my shorts and he looked up at my eyes, asking for my approval. When I nodded my head, he pulled down my shorts and panties at the same time, something I was not exactly prepared to do. I gasped when he dropped the garments onto the floor and my hands flew to cover myself.

Reid gripped my wrists and looked up at me. "Don't even think about it, Miss. Fletcher," he growled playfully and moved my hands away. I'd never felt more embarrassed or exposed as I did then when he sat back and looked my naked body up and down.

"You're so beautiful, Callie," he told me, reaching up to stroke my cheek. "So sexy."

I was definitely blushing at that comment. I loved the way he could always make me laugh even in difficult situations. Not that this situation was difficult, but it was different for me and completely out of my element.

I bit my lips and sat up on my elbows, noticing his attire. "I think you've got some catching up to, Mr. Garwin," I said, nodding at his sweatpants.

He smirked at me and pushed away from the bed to stand in front of me. If I ever see anything sexier than when Reid stripped out of his sweatpants and boxers that night, I wouldn't believe it. God I wanted him more than anything in that moment as I looked at him, realizing just how big he was and wondering how he was ever going to fit.

I watched as he walked over to his weekend bag and rifled around for a second before producing a condom and rolling it on. He settled himself over me and moved his hand down to the middle of my thighs were his fingers found my heat and I realized then just how ready I actually was. My face flushed with embarrassment.

He smiled at me and in that moment I knew that there wasn't anyone else that I could have wanted to share my first time with. As much as I didn't want to admit it to myself, I was falling for Reid, even if he didn't feel the same way. And even if he might dump me in the near future, I wouldn't have any regret because I wanted it. I wanted him.

I felt the tip of him against my entrance and I took a deep breath, preparing myself.

"Just relax," he told me, kissing me gently on the lips. "It's going to hurt, I won't lie. But it'll be easier for both of us if you're not tense."

I nodded and wriggled underneath him slightly, willing myself to relax as he started pushing himself into me slowly. I bit my lip as I felt the sting of it and closed my eyes tightly. I knew it hurt at first and I was going to suck it up because I knew it would get better.

"Just do it," I whispered quickly, letting out a breath of air.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Yes, Reid, just do it quick. Please."

He wasted no more time as he grabbed my hips and surged forward, sinking into me fully and taking my virginity.

It was painful, very much so at first but he didn't move. He was breathing heavily on top of me, having fell to his elbows on either side of my head, his face just inches from mine as we both tried to adjust.

"You okay?" he asked finally, his voice sounding strained again.

"Yeah," I said honestly because I was. I was adjusting to him inside of me and it was okay…it felt good. I could do this. He just needed to move.

Instinctively, I rolled my hips against his, eliciting a sting inside of me but a moan from him and I knew that it felt good.

"Move Reid," I urged him, rolling my hips again and he quickly grabbed them tightly, holding them in place to keep me from doing it again. I couldn't hide the smirk on my face. "Scared, Mr. Garwin?" I teased.

He looked at me with playful, narrowed eyes and he leaned closer so that our noses were touching. "You wish."

We spent the night getting lost in each other and reveling in each other's bodies, something we both had wanted to do for a long time.

When I woke up it was still dark and I was naked under the cool sheets of the hotel bed. I looked at the clock to see that it was four-thirty in the morning and rolled slightly, only to realize that I was alone in the bed. Where was Reid?

That was when I noticed the note lying on the pillow where the blonde's head should have been.

_Had to take over watch for Pogue and Ty. _

_I'll be in Caleb's room if you need me._

_-Reid_

I sighed in longing, already missing him next to me. I tried to suppress my emotions, knowing that nobody liked a clingy girl, especially after they'd just had sex with them. Ignoring my thoughts, I got up out of bed and pulled my shorts and t-shirt back on and went to the bathroom.

I was surprised that I was kind of sore. I didn't know that you got sore after sex and it made me almost giddy and I giggled at myself as I splashed cold water onto my face and got a drink.

When I walked back into the bedroom, I couldn't ignore the cold feeling that immediately washed over me and I looked around in front of me at the room, seeing that nothing seemed out of place and Reid was still gone. I sighed, trying to rid my head of the feeling when I heard a door behind me close and I froze.

"Hello Callie."

The cup of water in my hands fell from my fingers onto the carpet but I ignored it as I turned around slowly to find Chase leaning against the frame of the bathroom door.

"Chase," I breathed and swallowed nervously. I took an automatic step backwards.

"Good to see you again, Cal. Have you missed me?" he asked nonchalantly, looking around the room.

"Can't say that I have," I answered, taking small steps backwards, hoping to get to the door that led to Pogue and Kate's adjoining room.

He scoffed. "Of course not, you've been too busy having sex with Reid all night, haven't you?"

My mouth fell open and I stopped moving, only a few steps away from the door now. "H-how do you know that?"

He just smirked at me. "Oh, I have my ways, Callie," he said and then all of a sudden he was standing in front of the door and I jumped. "Don't even think about screaming or I'll kill every single one of them, starting with your little blonde boyfriend."

I swallowed, my mouth dry and tears formed in my eyes. "What do you want?" I asked.

"I just want to talk, Callie. We have much to discuss," he told me, raising his brows at me.

"What could we possibly have to discuss, Chase?"

Chase looked at me with a sardonic smile and held his hand out in front of me, offering it to me. "Come with me and you'll find out."

I shook my head, backing away.

"Need I remind you of the threat I made a minute ago about killing all of your friends," he said, looking at me with a mock sympathy. "Wouldn't want that to happen now would we?"

I closed my eyes, knowing full well what I had to do. If Chase wanted to talk, fine, I would talk with him and get it over with.

"Alright," I breathed, reaching out and taking his hand.

The last thing I saw was Chase's evil grin before everything went black.


	9. Demons

A/N: I just had to keep going, this events of this chapter were just eating away at me and I had to write it while I was still inspired! Hope you guys like it!

Title is from Demons by Imagine Dragons, even though it's cliche.

Enjoy!

* * *

(Reid's POV)

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE, CALEB?" I yelled loudly as we were all gathered in one of the hotel rooms. My blood was boiling, my face red and my hands were clenched into fists and I was itching to punch something – anything.

Caleb shook his head and put a hand on his forehead. "Reid, I promise I have no idea. I had nothing to do with Callie going missing."

My jaw was clenched tightly shut, my teeth grinding together and my breath was coming out in uneven pants out of my nose. "You put the fucking idea in her head! She probably went looking for Chase thinking she could help!"

It had been about twenty minutes since I had gone back to the room to check on the brunette that was supposed to be in my bed, but instead I found an empty room and no trace of Callie anywhere.

I knew I should have stayed with her, I shouldn't have left her all by herself. Callie may have been quiet and timid, but once she set her mind to something her mind couldn't be changed. And now she had gone looking for Chase, hoping to create some sort of peace between him and the Covenant.

I couldn't help the growl that escaped my throat and I turned and swung my arm out and collided with the lamp that was sitting on the bedside table. It fell to the floor, the bulb shattering into pieces, the light going out instantly.

"Reid, calm down, we'll find her," Sarah tried to sooth me but I just glared at her.

"And just how do you think we're going to do that? We have no idea where she could be!" I yelled, trying to keep my temper at bay. It definitely wasn't Sarah's fault that Callie was gone, but I could definitely put the blame on Caleb.

"I don't think she left by herself," Kate spoke suddenly from a corner.

All eyes went to her and I stood up straight, taking a few steps closer to her and I noticed Pogue tense as he watched me get closer. "What do mean, Kate?"

She sighed. "I was awake, I think, when she…left. She was talking to someone and I could hear them through the wall. I thought it was you, Reid," she said, nodding towards me. "The person asked her to go with them and she said okay and then that was it."

My eyes widened. Chase had been in the room. How had they missed him? That's what they were doing – keeping watch for the scumbag and yet he'd managed to slip right past them and take Callie.

I groaned and hung my head back. "You didn't think it might be useful to share this information a little sooner, Kate?"

"I told you, I thought it was you, Reid!" she said defensively and Pogue put a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't until you came barging into the room that I realized it wasn't."

I ignored her and looked at Caleb, pleading for him to come up with an idea.

"Okay, look he couldn't have taken her very far," he suggested and I knew he was only trying to calm me down. "If she left willingly with him, maybe she knew what she was doing."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Or he was threatening her!"

Caleb sighed. "Reid, I know that you care for this girl, but I think that we have to look passed that and at the bigger picture here, like why Chase is so interested in her."

It took me a minute to comprehend what he was saying and when I did, I felt enraged. "Are you trying to say that Callie's working with Chase?"

Caleb closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I mean, think about it, she comes into your life around the same time that Chase does and now she's all of a sudden taking off with him - seems a little suspicious to me."

"Caleb," Sarah scolded him with a harsh look. "She's not working with Chase, she can't stand him." I was thankful that someone wasn't going completely crazy and I nodded at Sarah in thanks.

"Maybe that was just a cover so that we wouldn't figure out that she's been bringing him information about us for weeks now."

"She only just found out about us last night! What could she be telling him?" I barked, clenching my fists and willing myself not to hit Caleb. I tried my hardest not to fight with my brothers but sometimes it was inevitable. "You're just looking for an excuse to make it seem like it's not your fault she's gone!"

Caleb threw his hands up in the air. "She went willingly!"

I clenched my teeth together. "I swear to God, Caleb, I'm going to knock your teeth out of your head."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "You just don't want to take Callie off of the pedestal you've put her on."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I growled. "You're always ranting at me to find a girl and stop fucking around and now that I have, you're trying to get me to turn on her."

Caleb groaned. "I'm not trying to get you to turn on her. I like Callie and I think she's good for you….but what if she's working with Chase? What will you do then, huh?"

I glared at him for a few seconds before I shook my head. "She's not," I said through clenched teeth and then walked over to stare out the window. There really wasn't anything that I could think to do except for wait. We had no idea where they could be and Chase could have taken her anywhere.

I knew Callie wasn't working with him, not by the way she always acted around him. She really didn't like him and Caleb was just trying to find an excuse for everything that's been happening. Callie was the most innocent girl I'd ever met, she would never be able to pull off something like that and I wasn't going to waste time trying to convince other people of it. They'd see soon enough.

It was then that my phone started ringing and I fumbled for it in my pocket. The number was unknown and I turned around to face everyone else as all their eyes were on me. I hit the answer button and brought the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Reid, it's me," Callie's voice came from the other end of the line and it felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

"Oh my God, Callie, where are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even and I watched as everyone's eyes lit up at the mention of her.

She sighed and I heard someone speaking near her. "In the woods somewhere, Chase brought me here."

"Are you still with him?"

There was a pause at the other end of the line and some fumbling and then a voice that wasn't Callie's came over the phone.

"Hello Reid," Chase's voice was smug and it made me grit my teeth.

"Where have you taken her, asshole?" I demanded. "If you've hurt her I swear to God I'll kill you."

He laughed. "Don't worry, buddy, everything's all well and good. I just had a few things to discuss with your girl, that's all. I'm sure she'll fill you in later."

"Where is she?"

"We're just outside the town line and Callie will be waiting by the Ipswich welcome sign when you get here."

"Let me talk to her."

He clicked his tongue. "You'll see her soon enough," he said and then clicked off, ending the phone call.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and grabbed the keys to Tyler's hummer. "I'm going to get her," I announced, pulling open the door.

"He's letting her go?" Caleb asked, standing up.

I nodded. "He just wanted to talk. Maybe she got information like you wanted," I inquired, trying to make him feel like an asshole.

"I'll go with you," Caleb said and stood up to follow me. "Tyler and Pogue stay with the girls."

The other two boys nodded as Caleb and I headed out the door.

* * *

(Callie's POV)

When I finally awoke, I realized I was outside, lying on the cold, damp ground. I didn't know what had happened or why I had passed out, remembering that I had taken Chase's hand and that's all.

I looked around. I was in the woods, surrounded by trees on all sides and no idea how far away from the hotel or if we were even in Ipswich anymore. Chase was nowhere to be seen at the moment so I scrambled to my feet, preparing myself to run, despite not having any shoes on.

The only problem with running was that I had no idea where in the hell I was, which could ultimately pose a problem. I racked my brain, trying to think of something to do. I didn't want to just start running - I could get myself even more lost than I already was.

That's when I realized that the woods I was standing in looked vaguely familiar, although I knew I had never been there before. It was like déjà vu but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd seen this place before.

"Nice to see you're awake," a voice came from behind me and I turned quickly, not surprised to find Chase standing about ten feet away from me, his face silhouetted in the moonlight and making him all the more creepy. God, I hated him.

"What are we doing here?" I asked and my voice was like ice.

He laughed, more to himself than to me and rocked back on his heels. "I figured this was probably the best place to take you. They'll never be able to find you out here."

My eyes narrowed. "You said you just wanted to talk."

He held his hands up in defense. "Yes, I did say that, but I also didn't want your friends to come barging in on us. But don't worry, I'm going to let you go back to them unharmed, so you can relax."

"I don't believe you," I hissed.

The corner of his mouth turned up into a smug half-grin. "Here," he said and reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "I'll even let you call them when we're done."

I eyed him suspiciously, taking the phone from his hand. "What's this all about?"

He sighed and began pacing around, circling her menacingly. If he was trying to get her to relax, it really wasn't working.

"Don't you think it's amazing how well you can track someone down? I mean nowadays, all you really need is a name and the computer and you can have your answer within five minutes," he said, laughter evident on his face.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, spinning with him as he walked around me. I didn't want my back to be turned to him.

"I'm assuming you know of the five families of the Covenant and the vows that they made to preserve their powers from being discovered by witch hunters, yes?"

I nodded.

Chase brought his fingers up to his chin, rubbing it and making him look like an old character from a storybook. "The fifth family was banished for using their magic too much," he said and there was a smirk on his face. "I mean, how can anyone blame them? It's addicting!" he yelled and fire ignited from the palm of his hand, lighting up his face in hues of orange and yellow, making him look even crazier.

"That was your family," I confirmed, trying to get him to stay on task.

The fire died and he continued circling. "My father and his father before him were all power hungry. The Power consumed them, took over their lives," he said, his voice low. "Of course, I would also inherit the need to use. It's what keeps me from going completely insane."

"It also kills you," I told him.

His eyes narrowed at me. "That's beside the point that I'm trying to make here, Callie."

"What is your point?" I urged. "Please, I'd really like to know."

He sighed. "The reason that I didn't get to grow up here with the rest of my so-called brothers was because my mother gave me up for adoption when I was two, along with my sister."

My breath hitched in my throat. "You had a sister?"

He nodded. "A year younger than me, but we were separated, both adopted by different families. My adoptive parents were so loving and good to me, who would've known that I would kill them in a car crash and make it look like an accident. Those lying pricks didn't deserve to live anyways."

Something in the pit of my stomach was telling me that something wasn't right.

"What about your sister?"

"She was adopted by a different family, although her adoptive mother died when she was young and it was just her and her father. Such a shame, I wish I could have gotten to know her," he said and I could hear the fakeness in his voice as he looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

Something was definitely not right.

"So I tried to find her, looking up her birth name and I came across a girl who went to this prestigious school in Massachusetts so I decided to come and try to meet her, see what she was like," he continued and I got the sickly feeling that I knew where this was going, something inside of me just said it. "When I got there, I saw that she was just a fragile little thing that could barely get out of her own way, nothing like me, who had to grow up before I even got the chance to be a kid. But then I started to see that she_ was_ sort of like me in a way, sent away to a school so her father didn't have to deal with her. In a way, we are_ just_ alike, you know?"

My breathing was picking up and I felt him behind me, standing close and I tried to stay calm.

"Come on, Callie, you've had to have figured it out by now," he said loudly with a laugh. "Why your father never truly seemed to be interested in raising a daughter or the fact that you look absolutely nothing like your dead mother. Surely you've had to question it before."

I shook my head. "Never," I whispered but looking back at it now, remembering my mother's face and eyes, she was blonde and had tanned, olive skin and deep, deep blue eyes like ocean. I on the other hand had long brown curls, pale skin and emerald eyes. My father was always working and never seemed to show any real interest in me. It all made sense.

But my mother loved me. She was an amazing mother, even when she was sick. It didn't add up that she wasn't my biological mother.

Chase chuckled from behind me. "Eerie isn't it? Finding out that your whole life has been a lie."

My throat felt like it was closing up and it was getting harder to breathe. He hadn't said it outright yet but deep down, I knew that what he was saying was true.

Chase was right behind me now. I could feel his breath in my ear and his hand came up to rest on my shoulder, sending me unwanted shivers down my spine.

"I've always wanted a sister," he whispered and rested his head against mine and inhaling deeply. I closed my eyes, trying to keep my tears a bay as my whole world came crashing down around me.

I took a deep breath. "So…..our…..our parents…..they're both…..dead?" I asked.

He sighed. "Our mother died when we were young, our father died just recently after I finally found him. He was on his death bed and I forced him to will me his powers, ultimately killing him in the process."

My eyes widened and I turned around to face him. "He willed you his powers? What does that mean?"

"It means that on top of my powers, I now have his as well," he said proudly. "It took some negotiating and persuasion, but he eventually gave in. But once you will away your powers, you die."

My heart ached. "You….you killed our father because you wanted his powers?"

Chase shrugged. "It was the least he could do for me after not being there for eighteen years."

Even though I never knew about him, it still made me upset that my biological father had been alive and within my reach to find him and Chase had just killed him for his own self gain.

I shook my head. "This is insane," I whispered.

"Mm," Chase mumbled, sounding like he was agreeing with me. "But at least now we have each other," he said and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

I pushed his arm away and backed up, wanting to put as much space between us as possible. "Don't touch me."

Chase didn't seem to be hurt by my words and instead, he advanced on me. "Oh come on, Callie, you can't still be afraid of me," he said as I kept backing away from him. "You're my sister. I would never do anything to hurt you."

I shook my head. "Please, just….just let me go home," I said quietly as tears filled my eyes. I wanted Reid. I needed him now.

Chase's eyes narrowed but he didn't advance on her any farther. "Fine, call them."

I let out a breath of relief and I quickly dialed Reid's number on his cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Reid, it's me," I said quickly, trying not to sound too distressed.

"Oh my God, Callie where are you?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

I sighed and looked at Chase. "Lover boy to the rescue," he mocked, offering her an evil grin.

"In the woods somewhere, Chase brought me here."

"Are you still with him?"

"Give me the phone," Chase demanded, plucking the phone out of my fingers before I could stop him. He went on talking to Reid, taunting him through the phone until he finally told him where to meet me and I felt relieved that he was still agreeing to let me go.

Once he hung up the phone, he shoved it back into his pocket and looked at me. "You have to meet the asshole at the Ipswich welcome sign," he informed me smugly and I glared at him.

"Don't call him that," I hissed. "You don't have the right to call him that."

He laughed. "Aren't all brother's supposed to hate their sister's boyfriends?"

I bit my lip, wincing at the fact that he had called himself my brother. I still didn't think of him that way and I probably never would. He wasn't my brother.

He sighed. "You'll come around to me eventually, Cal. You'll have to. You won't have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "You'll find out soon enough," he told me and then grabbed my wrist and before I knew what was happening, we were suddenly standing next to the Ipswich welcome sign.

I smiled in relief, knowing that it was only a matter of minutes before Reid got here.

"See you later, sis," Chase mocked from beside me and then a second later, he was gone.

I put my hand up to my chest to calm my breathing, replaying the events of the night over and over and going through everything that Chase had said.

My whole life had been a lie. One big, well played-out lie and now….I really had no family left. My adoptive father really wanted nothing to do with me and was away overseas eleven months of the year anyways so it wasn't like I saw him much anyways. Both of my mothers, biological and adoptive were dead, as was my biological father and my biological brother was a complete psychopath.

Holy shit, what was happening to my life?

Finally, I saw headlights coming down the road and my heart leapt when the familiar black Hummer pulled onto the side of the road. Reid jumped out of the passenger seat before the car had even come to a full stop, staring at me and rushing towards me. Not able to hide the tears any longer, I full out ran to him, jumping into his arms. He caught me with ease, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him tightly and I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his shoulder as I sobbed uncontrollably.

"Callie," he said, pulling back slightly, his hands on either side of my face, pushing my hair back out of my eyes. "Callie, baby, what's wrong? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

I couldn't talk through the sobbing and I was trying to take breaths in and out but it was just coming out as a strangled noise in my throat.

"Jesus, Cal, what happened?" he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist again.

"Just get me out of here," I was finally able to say, hugging him tighter. I just wanted to be back inside the confines of a warm room with Reid lying next to me, trying to forget about the events of the night that would plague me for the rest of my life.


	10. Look After You

A/N: This is just another little filler chapter, I promise there's more action coming so bear with me!

Thank you to all who have been reading! I never thought that I would have this many views! And to all my followers - you guys are awesome!

Anyways, here's chapter 10!

Enjoy!

* * *

(Callie's POV)

I wasn't sure what time it was when I finally woke up because the curtains were pulled, but I knew I must have slept for a while. Reid was sound asleep next to me and my head was lying on his chest, his arm around my shoulder and it comforted me to know that he was there and I was finally with him again, safe and in his arms.

I wiped my eyes and sighed miserably. It was still hard to believe that everything that Chase had told me was true. He didn't feel like my brother, but then again I'd never even met him until a few months ago. That would explain the weird feelings that I got whenever I was around him.

Despite me finding out more about my life, we were still no closer to finding out what Chase's actual intentions are. He'd made a promise that we would be seeing him again, but I had no idea what that even meant or why he had said it.

My head hurt from all of this hard thinking and it made me want to crawl back under the blankets and stay there for the rest of my life.

I shifted slightly and the movement must have jostled the blonde sleeping next to me because he moaned lightly and then opened his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice groggy with sleep. I had come to find that I very much liked the way his voice sounded after he had just woken up.

"I'm fine," I whispered and then hugged him tighter to me. "What time is it?"

He rolled slightly and then laughed. "It's almost eight o'clock at night."

I laughed too, knowing that we had to have slept all day.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, kissing the top of my head.

I took a deep breath. "I'm still just trying to process all of it," I told him honestly and rubbed my forehead. "I never, ever thought that anything like this would happen. I never knew that I had a brother or that I was part of a family of witches."

Reid didn't say anything and instead just pulled me closer to him and I reveled in the feel of being near him again. It had felt like forever since I'd touched him.

"And the worst part is that I should have seen it coming. Chase was right, I look nothing like my mother and my father never liked me. I should have realized it sooner. Now I just look like a fool."

"No one could see that coming, Callie," Reid said softly. "It's not your fault that you didn't figure out you were adopted, I mean, most of the time it's not something that any adoptive parent wants their child to figure out. Maybe that's why you never did."

I shook my head. "I still feel like an idiot."

The feel of Reid's arms around me was enough to keep me calm. I remembered back to the previous night, what we had done, and I realized that we hadn't even had time to talk about it. I hadn't even gotten the chance to tell him how I felt and how happy he had made me.

I knew that it had only been a couple of months and I knew that I had to be crazy for even thinking it but it was the only explanation that seemed logical when I thought about my feelings for him. Everything with him just felt so right, so…._utterly right_ and I knew that there really was only one reason why.

I was falling for Reid Garwin.

That was all there was. And it was the only thing that I knew felt real to me in that very moment.

"I never got the chance to thank you," I breathed lightly, slowly tracing my index finger over his chest and stomach.

His eyes watched my hand intently as he barely murmured, "For what?"

I angled my face to look up at him, giving him a look. "Last night."

His answering grin told me that he knew exactly what I was thanking him for. "I believe I quite enjoyed myself as well, although, I might need some reminding of what it was like," he said pointedly and I giggled, biting my lip as I continued tracing his abdomen with my finger.

Before he had time to say anything else I rolled quickly so that I was on top of him, straddling his waist. At first his expression was shocked but he immediately relaxed and I could see the satisfaction in his features. His hands ran up my thighs that were only covered by my shorts and landed on my waist, his fingertips slipping just inside the hem of my t-shirt.

"I think I might like this better," he murmured and his lips curled into a seductive smile that sent shivers down my spine. His groin was pressed into my own and I could feel his arousal underneath me and it only thrilled me more.

I grinned down at him and took the risk of lightly rolling my hips. I was rewarded with a low grumble that rolled up out of his throat and it made my heart pound. That had to have been the sexiest sound I'd ever heard and he'd made it because of me. I repeated the movement and his fingers gripped my hips tighter and he squeezed his eyes shut, throwing his head back against the pillow.

"Fuck, Callie," he groaned through clenched teeth and I smiled triumphantly from my perch. Just the way he had said my name had me almost panting on top of him. I wasn't skilled at anything I was doing, but apparently I was doing pretty well considering the shudder that I felt course through his body as I rolled my hips a third time.

Before I had a chance to do it again, Reid reached up quickly, gripping my neck and pulling me down so that our lips crashed together. It had been the first time he kissed me since last night and it only stirred those same emotions inside of me and I knew where this was going and that it was going there fast.

His fingers moved around to my back, pulling my shirt up with his hand, tracing down the middle of my back. My arms were on either side of his head as we continued kissing, his fingers wrapping in my hair tightly and I moaned into his mouth as our tongues explored each other's mouths.

Feeling brave, I lifted one of my hands and placed it on his chest. I felt his heartbeat under my palm and I smiled against his lips as I moved my hand slowly lower. He groaned, breaking our kiss and I immediately dipped my head so I could lick at his neck.

"God dammit," he mumbled incoherently and I smiled and kissed his jaw. His stomach muscles clenched as I ventured lower and lower, finally stopping at his jeans. His hips thrust upwards slightly as my fingers fumbled nimbly with the button and zipper.

The door to the adjoining room flew open just as I was about to begin working at getting his pants off and Caleb barged in unexpectedly. "Whoa!" he yelled loudly.

I gasped and yelped as I quickly rolled off of Reid, bringing the comforter up around my neck, despite being fully dressed.

"What the fuck?" Reid bellowed.

Caleb was looking away and Reid was seething next to me. He was sitting up straight in bed, shirtless and breathing heavily. I watched his shoulders rise and fall with each breath and I wished to God that Caleb hadn't barged in.

"Is it too much to ask to get any damn privacy around here?" Reid hissed, throwing his hands up in the air. "What do you want?"

Caleb turned back around and looked at me apologetically. "Well seeing as how it's eight at night, I was thinking you two might want to get up."

"What's the point?" Reid asked with a smirk, reaching around to put his arm around my shoulders. "We might as well stay in bed now."

I rolled my eyes playfully and flung the blankets off of me to get up.

"Don't you even think about it," Reid said quickly, attempting to grab me around the waist and pull me back into bed. I swatted his hands and looked at him sternly.

"We'll be right out, Caleb," I assured him.

Caleb nodded and turned to leave.

"Yeah, Caleb, we'll be right out, thanks a lot_ buddy_," Reid grumbled from the bed, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Anytime,_ buddy_," Caleb mocked and then closed the door.

Reid groaned obnoxiously and fell back into the bed as I pulled on a pair of his sweatpants over top of the shorts. His arm covered his eyes and I smiled at him, crawling across the bed to press my lips against his chest.

"Come on, cry baby," I said, my voice low and he peeked at me from under his arm. I grinned and kissed his stomach, just above the trail of hair that disappeared into his jeans.

"Do that again and we're gonna have a problem," he mumbled and I could see that muscles in his throat straining.

I sighed and got off of him and his groaned again. "Sometimes I really hate my brothers," he complained but got up out of the bed. I watched as he found a t-shirt and pulled it on over his head and I instantly missed his bare skin.

"Let's get this over with," he growled, taking my hand as he opened the door and we walked into Pogue and Kate's room.

Everyone was there again and I couldn't help but remember the night before when Reid had brought me to the hotel and they were all waiting for me. It was like they were a jury and they were waiting to hear my testimony.

Sarah got up almost immediately and hugged me tightly.

"We were so worried about you, Callie," she said and I hugged her back although I was a little surprised.

"I'm fine," I assured her quietly and she released me, smiling brightly.

"What happened out there?" Tyler asked and I looked at Reid who was staring at Tyler and then at Caleb who was looking at me. Apparently neither of them had said anything.

I sighed and sat down in one of the lounge chairs. "It's a long story, really," I admitted and they all seemed to lean in closer, eager to hear what I was going to say. "Apparently Chase was adopted, that's why he didn't grow up with you guys. He has your abilities and he's a descendent from the fifth family and he had a sister who he was separated from."

Sarah gasped. "No," she said quietly, covering her mouth with her hand. I was surprised she put it together so quickly.

Kate looked at her in confusion. "Wait, what?" she asked.

I pressed my lips together. "Chase had a sister who was also adopted, one that he traced to Ipswich, one that didn't have any idea until he told her last night."

Kate still looked bewildered as did Tyler but I was pretty sure that Pogue understood.

Reid sighed in annoyance. "She's Chase's sister, you idiots," he growled. "She's part of the fifth family of the covenant."

"Oh!" both Tyler and Kate cried.

I smiled at them, shaking my head in awe.

"Oh God, Callie, I'm so sorry," Sarah said sweetly, reaching out to touch my arm in an effort to comfort me. "You had no idea that you were adopted?"

I shook my head. "Nope, none at all. My adoptive mother died when I was young so she never had a chance to tell me and I never see my adoptive father."

"So what does you being Chase's sister have anything to do with why he is threatening us?" Pogue asked.

I shrugged. "I have no idea. He didn't say anything about that to me last night. All he said was that I would need him eventually."

Caleb shook his head. "It has to be something to do with the Power. Did he say anything about that last night?"

"He said that he made our biological father will him his powers."

"What?" all four of the Sons said in unison and I stared at them all. Maybe the bond they shared was a lot stronger than I thought.

"He's eighteen too," Caleb murmured.

"Is that a bad thing?" Kate asked.

"It means that he's ascended," I chimed in proudly, having remembered that detail from the story Caleb had told the night before. When the boys turned eighteen, they ascended, which basically meant that all of their powers got a whole lot stronger. This is both a blessing and a curse because the need to use becomes even more powerful and harder to resist. All four of the boys had already turned eighteen, Tyler being the last of the four this past summer.

"Exactly," Caleb nodded at me. "And on top of that he has his father's Power."

"He's not stronger than all of us together though," Tyler said, trying to lighten the mood and I offered him a smile. He was always trying to see the positive.

"No, I guess he's not, but he's still going to be hard to take down if it comes to that," Caleb said as he was now pacing around the room.

"Take him down?" Pogue asked, suddenly concerned. "What do you mean, like kill him?"

"I don't know Pogue we've never had to deal with something like this before."

"Obviously we have to do _something_," Reid said and he sounded almost angry as I sat beside him in one of the chairs and he on the armrest. I reached up and touched his arm in an attempt to calm him. "We can't just sit back and let him keep threatening us like this and not do anything about it."

"Reid's right," Caleb agreed with a nod. "Who knows who else he's going to go after. We've got families to think about, not to mention other innocent people who could get hurt just for being in his way."

"We have to find out what he wants."

"Yeah, but how are we going to do that? He'll never let any of us close enough to him now."

"I could try to find out," I piped up from where I sat and all eyes were on me and I could especially feel the glare coming from the blonde sitting next to me. I tried to ignore him and addressed Caleb. "He told me that I would have to see him again."

"No," Reid said the word so harshly that I almost flinched but I still tried to ignore him.

Caleb sighed. "Callie, I really can't ask you to do anything like that again. I shouldn't even have asked you in the first place."

"It's okay," I huffed and stood up. "I'm fine, he didn't hurt me. He said he would never hurt me. That's why I think it would be a good idea for me to try and get some answers from him."

Nobody said anything. They all seemed to be looking at Reid. The blonde was still sitting on the arm of the chair where I'd left him, his arms were crossed over his chest and he was staring at something on the floor.

I sighed. "Look, it's not really up to you guys anyways. If I want to go see Chase then I'm going to go and see him. What other choice do we have?"

"I think it's a good idea," Sarah said bravely and I smiled at her. "I trust Callie and if she says she can talk to Chase with no problem then I say we should let her."

I looked around the room as everyone seemed to nod their heads in agreement with Sarah. All except for Reid who was still standing in the same position as before.

"It's settled then," I said with finality. "I'll try to talk to Chase sometime tomorrow."

Everyone seemed to accept my offer and no one was going to go against it, although I knew as soon as Reid and I were alone again he would have something to say.

We all dispersed back into our respected rooms. Reid walked in before me so I closed and locked the adjoining door and then rested back against it as I watched him. I knew he was upset, as much as he tried to force his face to look indifferent, I had come to know him pretty well over the last couple of weeks. He wasn't as good at hiding his emotions as he thought he was.

He walked over to his duffle bag and produce a pair of sweatpants and I watched him as he shed his jeans and then pulled on the sweats and took his shirt off. He rifled through the bag a bit more and my eyes narrowed when he brought out his pack of cigarettes. He hadn't been smoking much lately because he knew that I didn't really like it. Tonight was probably the first one he'd had all week. He went to the open window, lit the stupid thing and started smoking.

We both stood in silence for a few minutes while he smoked his cigarette before I finally sighed from the door. "Are you going to say anything?"

He took a long puff of the cigarette and let the smoke out really slow before answering. "There's nothing to say, you seemed to have made up your mind."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Reid, do you think I'm stupid? I know you're mad."

"I'm not mad," he said without turning around.

"Then why are you avoiding the situation?" I asked, moving closer to him. "Talk to me."

He shrugged and took another puff. "What is there to talk about, Cal? You're once again going to put your life in danger for no reason."

"Of course there's a reason," I tried to keep my voice calm. I knew that the walls were thin and that if I raised my voice Pogue and Kate would definitely be able to hear me. "I want to help you guys."

"By getting yourself killed?" he asked and then turned around, smashing the end of the cigarette out into one of the ashtrays.

"Chase isn't going to hurt me."

"_Yet_," Reid almost growled.

I sighed. "He's putting you in danger, Reid. You and everybody else, I want to know why."

"You think he'll tell you? He knows you're going to come back here and give us information, he knows that's why you're even talking to him in the first place. He's not an idiot, Callie."

"I know that but what other options do we have?" I had slowly been taking steps towards him and I was only about two steps away from him now. He was staring at me, his blue eyes were hard but I could see the sadness in them and it broke my heart.

Reid shook his head. "If something were to happen to you-"

I closed the distance and put my hands on either side of his face, holding him tenderly and making him look at me. "Nothing will," I told him, my voice just a faint whisper. "I'll be fine. He won't hurt me."

"You don't know that," he said as he reached up and held my arms, his thumbs lightly tracing the inside of my wrists.

I swallowed. I knew the words that I wanted to say to him. The three words that had been dangling on the tip of my tongue for so long now but I knew that I couldn't say them. He wouldn't want that and I couldn't be without him in my life right now. I needed him more than anything.

"You have to trust me."

He scoffed. "I obviously trust you. It's that dickhead that I don't trust." I couldn't help the smirk that appeared on my lips and I wound my arms around his neck as his fell to my waist, pulling me that much closer to him. "I can't lose you, Callie. You're too important to me."

I knew that his words were something that he had trouble admitting to. Hell, I don't even know if he'd ever even said something like that to anyone before, including the guys. I just know that it made me tingle all over and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. He needed me as much as I needed him.

"Reid, I'm not some fragile little porcelain doll that you need to keep up on a shelf out of harm's way," I told him firmly, making sure to hold his gaze as I spoke. "I'm a big girl."

He didn't want to believe it - I could see it in his eyes. I knew that he was just trying to protect me, that he was just worried for my safety but I had to make him see that I was just as capable of taking care of myself as he was. Sure, I didn't have The Power or whatever, but I knew my strengths and I knew how to control Chase.

"Just let me do this," I whispered. "And if it doesn't work out, if he doesn't give me any information, I'll stop trying, okay?"

He thought about it for a moment and I knew he knew he really had no choice. I had already made up my mind and I was going to go through with it no matter what he said.

Finally he sighed and pulled me in tighter, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his head in my hair in a tender hug. I held him back, lightly stroking the hair on the back of his neck.

"Alright," he breathed into my ear, making me shiver. "You win."


	11. Take Cover

A/N: I really hope I'm not straying too far from Reid's character. I love his badass attitude, but I think it's important to show the feelings that he has for Callie. I just hope I haven't made everyone think I've turned him into a softy, lol.

Well anyway, here's chapter 11!

Enjoy!

* * *

(Reid's POV)

I didn't approve of Callie going to see Chase but I knew that I couldn't stop her. Despite her small frame, she could be very persistent when she wanted to be and I knew I wasn't going to win the argument. I just wished that I could be there with her or around her so I could make sure that the little shithead didn't try anything stupid. Callie claimed she could handle herself and I admired her courage but I knew my own strength and what I was capable of, which meant that Reid was five times stronger with his father's powers.

She had called Chase around noon after we woke up and all went out to breakfast and was planning on meeting him in the town square at one. I was glad that they would be out in the open, which gave Chase less opportunity to try anything but it still made me anxious. I had been pacing around in the hotel room since I dropped her off at the town square ten minutes ago. She was going to call me when they were done.

Thankfully, Chase wasn't there yet when I dropped her off, which was a good thing because if I had seen him I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from getting at least one good punch in before he annihilated me with his Power.

I groaned and threw myself down into the lounge chair, thankful that I was alone. The guys had offered to sit with me until Callie got back but I refused, wanting my privacy. It was nice to have them around sometimes but a lot of the time I liked to be on my own to deal with things. That is, until Callie came along.

As much as I liked my privacy, I wanted to spend every moment of every day with that girl. She was the only person that I felt comfortable talking to about anything and I knew that she wouldn't judge me. She was just so accepting of everything, despite my past and reputation. She should have been running for the hills by now and yet, she was still here, making me feel things that I'd never felt for any person before in my life. She was changing the way that I looked at relationships, proving that there was more than just sex that could make two people connect the way that I connected with Callie. I needed her in more ways than one.

I just wished that she would stop putting herself into dangerous situations and act like it was nothing.

With another sigh, I slumped into the seat, phone in my hand so that when Callie did call, I'd be able to answer it right away, and closed my eyes to attempt to take a nap.

Just as I was beginning to doze off, there was a frantic knocking on the door, waking me up. Who the hell would be at the door? I'd called my mother and she knew where I was so it wouldn't be her. The rest of the guys would have come through the other door.

I ignored it, trying to see if whoever it was would go away but it didn't work. They knocked again and again. Finally, I got up with a groan and walked to the door, undoing the locks and pulled it open.

My blood started boiling as I saw who was standing in the doorway.

Chase.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed and then looked around. "Where's Callie?"

Chase laughed and held his hands up. "Don't worry she's still waiting for me at the town square, right where you left her." He pushed past me and walked into the room, looking around smugly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked again, my hand still on the door knob and clenching it tightly. "You're supposed to be meeting with Callie."

Chase shrugged. "You and I both already know why she's meeting me and what she wants to ask me. I figured I'd save her the trouble and just come straight here instead."

I glared at him, making sure to face him head on. I could feel my power tingling through my body, ready for use at the first sign of need but I wasn't sure how well it would work against him.

"I probably could have come last night but I know how much you hate when I'm around Callie," Chase said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Though I think it's going to be hard to prevent now that she knows the truth."

"Just because you're her brother doesn't mean that she's going to start hanging around you more. She can't stand you," I told him and slammed the door shut.

"That might be true, but it's going to be hard for her to stay away from me when she realizes what it is that I want."

"And what would that be?" I hissed, clenching my fists tightly at my hips.

He laughed again and I could see in his eyes just how crazy he actually was. It made me sick to think that Callie had ever been around him alone.

"Power," was all he said and he grinned at me. I tried to keep my face composed as the hair rose on my arms, understanding what he meant.

"You mean _our_ power."

Chase giggled and nodded. "Ultimately, yes your powers. You see, at first it was just Caleb's that I wanted. He's the oldest so I figured his would be the best to have. I didn't think that killing all four of you would be easy to cover up so I was just going to settle for one," he said as he paced around the room, kind of like how I was doing just a few minutes ago. "Then I saw how close you and Callie were getting."

My eyes widened slightly and I tried to remain calm as he went on.

"I already knew that she was my sister and I was just waiting for the right time to tell her. I didn't think that she was going to start getting involved with you and the rest of the guys so easily. And I saw the way that she looked at me, like she was scared of me."

"She _is_ scared of you," I told him, keeping my voice flat and even, trying not to show any emotion. He couldn't know that I might actually be getting scared.

He seemed to ignore my comment. "That's when I started thinking, what a perfect way to get my sister on my side and get what I want at the same time!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Chase? If you think Callie's going to help you do anything, you're fucking crazy."

"On the contrary, Garwin, I think she'll be more than happy to help out once I tell her that by doing so she'll save your life."

I stared at him, trying to figure out what his plan was but I really had no idea what he was talking about.

"Even if you were to kill me, how is Callie supposed to help you? You know that she doesn't have the Power," I said, watching him move about the room, touching things for no reason as if he were just toying with me.

"Ah, I forgot that none of you have any siblings," he said as he stared at an ugly painting hanging on the wall. "Well, let's just say that even though Callie doesn't have any powers, she can help me make mine even stronger."

"How?" I pressed. I wanted to keep him talking, maybe it would give the guys some time to come and check on me or something. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold him off by myself if it came down to it.

"The bond between Covenant siblings is stronger than even the bond that you share with Caleb and Pogue and Tyler. If our blood is joined as one it can create an elixir that will make me practically invincible and able to do things that you four never even dreamed of."

I listened intently, wondering just how he knew this and we didn't. We'd learned a lot about our culture and the Covenant and nothing had ever come up about the sibling bond that he was talking about.

"How come we don't know about that?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Maybe your parents didn't even know about it. I had a lot of spare time when I was growing up and I did a lot of research on our families, learning all of the legends and myths about the Salem witch trials, one of them being about the bond between siblings."

"So what do I have to do with it?"

"Well, for now I figured you could just be collateral damage, to make sure Callie cooperates with me."

I rolled my eyes. "She won't help you."

Chase called my bluff with a smug smile. "I'm aware that my sister's not fond of me but I also know that if your life is at stake, she would do anything to keep you out of harm's way," he said and then laughed to himself. "She's such a great person, always putting other's needs before her own."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Don't act like you know anything about her."

Chase just smiled smugly at me. "I know more than you think I do," he said in a hushed tone. "So, are you ready to go? I really hate to keep Callie waiting any longer."

I almost laughed at him. "You really think you're going to get me to come that easily?"

He shrugged. "I figured you would say that," he said nonchalantly and walked to the window. "That's why I brought him," he opened the curtain to reveal his car sitting right in front of the hotel window. It took me a minute to realize what I was looking at but I finally saw what he was showing me. In the passenger seat of his car was Matt. The way he was slumped in the seat made it look like he was asleep but I knew that Chase had most likely knocked him out cold.

"What the hell are you doing with him?" I asked, heading for the door. I yanked it open but it was immediately slammed shut but Chase hadn't moved. I looked over at him to see that his eyes were completely black.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, his eyes still dark.

I swallowed and backed away from the door. He wasn't in his right state of mind, the Power was controlling him now and it was best not to make him mad.

"I knew you wouldn't come quietly and I couldn't bear putting my sister in danger, so I figured he was the next best thing. You don't care for him but Callie does and you would never do anything to hurt her, would you Reid? Say like, let her other best friend die because you wouldn't cooperate."

I clenched my fists at my side. "You bastard."

Chase just laughed, his eyes going back to their normal color and I relaxed slightly. "So it's up to you, Garwin. Are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?"

I could barely contain my anger as I glared at him. The fucking asshole knew I wouldn't let Matt suffer because of myself, Callie would never forgive me. As much as I didn't like Matt, I knew I couldn't let Chase take him. I had seen what losing one of her friends had done to Callie and I wasn't putting her through that again.

The choice was no choice at all. I knew what I had to do.

* * *

(Callie's POV)

I sighed in annoyance and checked my phone again. I had been waiting for Chase for half an hour and if he didn't show up within the next five minutes, I was calling Reid and going back to the hotel.

I knew that there wasn't a big chance of me getting any answers out of Chase but I had to try. He was putting my friends in danger and I had to try and talk some sense into him or figure out why he was doing this in the first place.

A couple more minutes passed and I started gathering my things to leave. If Chase didn't want to talk then fine, I wasn't going to waste my time any longer. I pulled out my phone and dialed Reid's number.

It rang and rang and then went to voicemail.

That was weird.

I tried again. This time someone picked up on the third ring but it wasn't the blonde I was hoping for.

"Hello little sister," Chase's voice said from the other end of the line and I almost dropped the phone in shock.

"Chase?" I asked and it was a wonder he'd heard me, I was talking so low.

"The one and only," he said cockily.

I swallowed and I realized my hands were shaking. "Why do you have Reid's phone?"

"Oh, this is Garwin's phone? Silly me, I didn't even notice," he was obviously teasing me and it made my blood boil. I immediately felt like something was wrong. I wasn't sure why, but whenever I was around or talking to Chase it was almost as if I could sense what he was thinking. Maybe not mind reading, but I could feel that there was something not right, just like in the woods. He had another secret.

"Stop being an asshole and tell me why you have Reid's phone," I demanded, making my voice harsh.

He clicked his tongue through the phone. "I'm not going to tell you anything if you're going to call me names."

I scowled. "I'm not kidding, Chase. If you've done something to hurt him I swear to God I'll-"

"You'll what, Callie?" he challenged, his voice like ice in my ear. "Do you really think that you're any match for me?"

Tears threatened to fall down my cheeks as a lump form in my throat. "You would never hurt me. You said so yourself."

"I would if you were standing in my way."

"Standing in the way of what?"

"My plan," he said simply.

I scoffed in annoyance at his vague explanation. "Does your plan involve stealing Reid's phone? Seriously, tell me why you have it," I tried to sound as tough as I could but I knew he could most likely see through the façade. I was terrified.

"It started ringing and I took it from him before he could answer it," was his reply and my jaw dropped.

"Where is he?" I asked automatically. "Is he with you? Tell me Chase or I'll kill you myself."

"Enough with the threats, Callie, you're wasting your breath," he said coolly and then sighed.

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" I yelled into the phone and then looked around, heat flooding to my face in embarrassment. Good thing there weren't a lot of people in the park today.

Chase just laughed. "You know, you're really starting to prove me wrong about you, sis. You are quite the little spit-fire when you want to be."

If Chase had been within reaching distance right then, I would have socked him in the mouth. My fingers were twitching with anticipation.

"Chase. Tell me where my boyfriend is," I growled and my voice almost frightened me.

"Oh, so he's your boyfriend now, is he?" Chase said in mock interest. "How fortunate."

"Chase," I ground out through clenched teeth. My hands tightened into fists.

He sighed again. "I'll tell you what, why don't I let you speak to him yourself?"

My eyes widened and I heard fumbling with the phone, a low voice that was obviously Chase and then the voice I wanted to hear said, "Hey baby."

The tears that were building in my eyes fell and slid slowly down my cheeks. "Reid, where are you? Are you okay? Why are you with Chase?"

"I'm…alright. I'm not sure where we are," he said and his voice sounded strained. He sounded hurt. Oh God I was literally going to strangle Chase when I saw him. "Listen to me, whatever he tells you, whatever he says to you about his _plan_, don't trust him. I'm begging you, Callie, stay out of this, alright?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, barely able to contain my sob. "What's going on, Reid?"

He grunted in what sounded like pain again. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does," I hissed, getting angrier by the second. "_You_ matter to me. Tell me what's going on, _please_."

"You can't be involved with any of this. You're going to get hurt and I won't let that happen." I'd never heard his voice sound so weak before.

"I don't care! You need to tell me what's going on. Please, Reid," I begged

It took him a moment to answer. "I can't. Callie, I'm so sorry," it sounded like he was saying goodbye. I panicked.

"Reid Garwin, don't you dare hang up on me," I warned as the tears continued to fall.

"I have to go."

"No, Reid, please-"

"I love you, Callie."

The line went dead and I stood there. Frozen. Unable to move.

He said he loved me.

It was the first time he'd ever said it to me. My heart was filled with so much joy that I felt that it might explode. The tears continued to fall as I tried to real in all of the emotions that I was feeling in that moment – fear, anger, happiness…love.

He loved me. Reid loved me.

And I hadn't gotten a chance to say it back. Would I ever get the chance?

What if he'd said it because he thought it would be _his_ last chance to say it?

Realization dawned on me as I was reminded of the real issue at hand. Reid was in trouble. Big trouble. And he wanted me to stay out of it.

Like hell I would. He didn't just get to confess his love for me and then expect me not to do anything to help him.

I searched through my phone and decided to call the only other person I could think of that would have an idea of what to do.

He answered on the second ring.

"Caleb? Hey, can you come pick me up at the park? Something's happen to Reid. Something bad and I need your help."

* * *

(Reid's POV)

I hung up the phone and resisted the urge to drop it and crush it with a stomp of my foot. From my position of sitting in a chair with my wrists and ankles tied to the arms and legs, it would have been difficult.

Hanging up on Callie, leaving her to wonder like that, obviously hurting, was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

I knew she wanted to help me and I knew that even though I'd told her not to that she was going to do it anyways. That was why I didn't tell her what was going on. The less she knew, the better. I needed to keep Callie away from Chase. Whatever his plan was to use their sibling bond, it didn't sit right with me. I couldn't risk Callie's safety, not again. That girl was the most important thing in my life.

And I'd told her I loved her.

The words had just slipped out on their own accord. I hadn't planned on saying them. Hell, I hadn't even been sure that I felt _that_ strongly about her up until five minutes ago. But when the words came out, they felt….right. It felt like I had said them to her a million times. I'd never told a girl that I loved them. I don't even think I had ever even told any of the guys that I loved them. The only person I'd ever said it to was my mother and that was a given.

But as I thought about it, I knew it was true. I loved Callie. I have loved her for a while now, I was just too stubborn and insecure to admit to myself. Hell, I think I fell in love with her the night we played beer pong together.

And now I might never see her again.

Tears stung my eyes at the thought of never again being able to look into her big, gorgeous, emerald eyes or hear her sweet, delicate voice. My time with her had been so short, so limited, it couldn't be over.

It wouldn't be over.

I was going to fight. I knew Chase was going to try to forcefully drain me of my powers, he said he might have found a way to do it but it would be painful. He had already tried something and it obviously backfired because now my body ached in pain.

I wasn't going to let him win. I knew Callie was going to try and figure out a way to help me and I held on to the hope that she would figure it out fast.

One way or another, her and I were going to get out of this alive and we were going to be together. Whatever it takes, I'd do it in a heartbeat for that girl. Chase had another thing coming if he seriously believed that we would give up without a fight.

It wasn't over. Not by a long shot.


	12. Without You Here

A/N: Sorry for the sporadic postings but it's the end of the semester and I'm super busy during the week! But luckily I found time to update again finally!

Enjoy!

* * *

(Callie's POV)

I was really trying to hold it all together, really I was. After Caleb had picked me up at the park, we had all gone back to his house to try and regroup and figure out what we were going to do. We were in Caleb's basement and it was cold and dark, the only source of light being a few candles that were lit around the table that we had what seemed like an endless amount of books that had to do with the Salem witch trials.

When we had first arrived, I was doing okay. I was determined to find Reid, no matter what, I knew that there had to be a way to locate him somehow.

But now that we were here, actually talking about the possibilities of where Chase may have Reid and knowing that they could literally be anywhere…..I couldn't help but feel the need to break down. All I wanted to do was hug Reid, to feel his arms around me and to know that he was safe again. I would have given anything in that very moment.

The guys were trying to be helpful and I was grateful for that but we weren't getting anywhere. Sarah and Kate were there too and they were both trying to console me but I tried to keep my distance. If they said anything to me about it I was likely to start crying right then and there and I couldn't afford to lose my focus.

I also had Matt at my side.

When we had gotten back to the motel and checked mine and Reid's room, we found an unconscious Matt lying on the bed. I had run to him, fearing the worst until I felt his pulse beneath my fingers and almost started crying.

We were eventually able to wake him and he shot straight up, as if he were waking from a terrible dream. He looked around the room, his eyes landing on me and going wide with surprise.

"Callie?" he said, mouth agape.

"Matty," I breathed and smiled. "Thank God you're alright."

He looked around confused again. "Where the hell am I?" he asked and then winced in pain, reaching up to hold his head.

"A motel just outside of Ipswich," I told him and then handed him a glass of water that I'd put next to the bed. "We've been staying here since Friday night."

Matt accepted the drink and took a long gulp. "How did I get here?" he asked and I shrugged. "The last thing I remember was going back to my room after getting lunch and I ran into…" he stopped and looked up at me with wide eyes. "Chase."

It didn't surprise me. But the question was why did he bring Matt here? Why did he knock him out in the first place?

"He was waiting for me outside my room," he said, staring off into space and recalling the situation. "He didn't say anything he just grinned and then attacked me and that's all I remember until... I don't know. And then….I heard Reid's voice."

I leaned in closer, resting my hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"He was arguing with Chase I think but I don't know what he said and then I blacked out again."

Tears welled in my eyes and I held them back as best as I could. All I wanted to do was lean in and hug him, knowing that he was the next best thing besides having Reid. In that moment, I didn't care that we had fought, all I wanted was to have my best friend back.

"Matt," I finally choked out. He looked up at me and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.

"Don't," he said, shaking his head and then reaching out to take my hand. "Let me say it first," he said and then sighed. "I'm so sorry, Callie. I acted like the biggest douche and you were right to shut me out."

"I'm sorry too," I said and then couldn't hold myself back anymore. All of the emotions came rushing to me at once and hit me like a ton of bricks and I couldn't control the sobs any longer. I wrapped my arms tightly around Matt's neck and pulled him in for a hug and I was relieved to feel his arms wrap around my waist and hold me back.

"Jesus, I've missed you," he said quietly into my ear and I didn't care if he meant it in a friendly way or in a different way, I was just glad that he was finally there with me again.

I wasn't sure how long we sat there just holding each other before we finally pulled away and I wiped my eyes.

"So….this is probably a bad time," he began and eyed me suspiciously. "But…what exactly is going on here?"

I wasn't sure if telling Matt everything had been the right thing to do and it probably wasn't even my place to do so but I just couldn't help it. Everything was piling up around me and I felt like I was suffocating and it felt good to finally talk to somebody outside of the same group of people that I'd spent the last three days with. So I spilled the beans about the boys and Chase being my brother and everything with Reid and in the end, I wasn't sure if he actually believed me or not but he didn't object when I insisted on bringing him with us to Caleb's house to try to figure out what the hell we were going to do.

There had to be something that we were missing. Why would Chase take Reid in the first place?

It all came back to that same question: What did Chase really want?

"What about the old Putnam barn?" Pogue asked as we searched through a stack of books that had old buildings in and around Ipswich that had been built during the Salem witch trials. The books stated that the buildings that would still be standing could be used to draw magic from and if that were the case, Chase could be there in an attempt to strengthen his powers.

Caleb shook his head as he paced the room. "No, that's too obvious. Chase would know that it would be the first place we'd look."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Chase is too smart. He doesn't want to be found, not right away at least." If there was one thing I had learned about Chase was that he was hard to find until he actually _wanted _you to find him.

"We could spread out," Tyler suggested. "Search all of the buildings in the book."

"I'm not sure if that's where he's going to be," I said, turning another page of the massive book I was looking through. "Chase has his father's powers. He doesn't need to draw off of some old enchanted building,"

"She's right," Caleb said, backing me up. "Chase could be anywhere."

"So let's split up," Tyler said again. "We could cover more ground, take our time searching Ipswich."

"We don't have time," I said angrily and I realized I was gritting my teeth. "Reid is out there and Chase is….hurting him. I know it. We can't waste any more time," I told them all as I choked back a sob. "We don't know how much longer Reid may have left."

Everyone was silent for a while as they all seemed to stare at me. I knew they were all wondering the same thing: when was I really going to break? Matt was standing only a few feet away from me, ready to catch me at any minute.

All I wanted to do was cry, it seemed to be the only logical thing to do at the moment.

"What does he want?" Caleb finally said with a groan. "If we could just figure that out, maybe we could get farther with this. There's something else going on here, something bigger than what we really think. I can feel it."

"You're not wrong," a voice said from above them and all eyes went to the top of the stairs where Caleb's mom was standing. Her body was illuminated by the dim light from the front hallway and in her hands she held a thin book.

"Mom? Caleb said, squinting up at her.

The woman sighed and made her way down the long staircase. "You are right to think that there is something else that Chase wants. Something that none of you know about."

"How do you know this?" Caleb asked as she joined us at the table. I stood across from her and watched her every move. She knew something that we didn't know and it could just be the one thing that we needed to be able to save Reid.

Caleb's mother looked regretful as she placed the small book down on the table in front of her. "There is something that Chase could be after, something that none of you can ever have," she said, looking around at Caleb, Pogue and Tyler, then her gaze fell on me. "A sibling."

Everyone looked around at each other, wondering exactly what she meant. My eyes never left the woman standing in front of me.

"Mom, what the hell does that mean?" Caleb demanded.

Mrs. Danvers sighed. "You know that we tried so hard to educate you four boys on your backgrounds, on your powers. There was so much for you all to learn and you were all so eager to have lessons every day. Your mothers and I tried so hard to gain all of the knowledge that we could in order to be able to help you all to understand it yourselves but some things just didn't seem important to us."

Mrs. Danvers looked as if she were holding back tears as she flipped through a couple pages in the book. When she found the page she was looking for she turned the book and pushed it in front of Caleb who then picked it up and read it aloud.

"The sibling bond?" he asked, glancing back at his mother.

She nodded. "Yes, we never thought that it was important to tell you all about it because none of you ever had any siblings. To us it was just a legend, a myth that wasn't true. But now I see that it is much more powerful than we could have ever imagined."

Caleb was scanning the page of the book and I was dying with suspense. "So what is it?" I asked quickly.

"It means that you and Chase have a special connection, one that can only be formed when two children are born from the same family in the Covenant. It's never happened before, you and your brother are the first."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay, so what exactly does the special connection mean?"

"It means that you two are practically joined as one. You can know what each other is thinking and be able to sense where the other one is. I'm sure if you two had had more training you would be extremely good at it."

"What like telepathy?" Matt asked in disbelief. "You're trying to tell me that Callie's a telepath?"

My eyes widened as I realized that what she was saying was true. That must have been why I could feel things when I was around Chase, why I knew that something was wrong when I was talking to him on the phone – I could _feel_ what he was feeling.

"Is there anything else?" I asked Mrs. Danvers and I knew my voice was desperate. "Are there any specific abilities that we can…do?" I asked, suddenly very interested.

Pogue stared at me. "You don't honestly believe this do you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do. I've experienced things like that before. I can feel the same things that Chase feels, I knew that something was wrong when he called me today, I knew he had Reid," I explained, not caring if he believed me or not. I would go at this alone if I had to, I wasn't going to abandon Reid.

And all of this sibling bond crap actually made a lot of sense to me now. That was why I had to figure out everything. This was the missing link, this would be exactly what we needed to find out where Reid was. I just knew it.

I nodded to Caleb's mom who went on.

"What we have in the book is that you two are basically joined as one. With practice, you can learn to read each other's minds, enter each other's thoughts," she explained confidently. "But the biggest power that you two share is your blood."

"Our blood?" I asked dumbfounded.

She nodded. "Yes, your blood," she said and then snatched the book out of Caleb's hands. "If the blood of two siblings of the Covenant is joined together, it's mixture can create some sort of…._potion_ that will make the weakest of warlocks stronger than any other if drunk."

My jaw dropped. That was what Chase wanted. My blood. It was that simple. All along _I_ had been the answer, my blood had been the answer.

Chase had said that I would eventually come to him. He had predicted this, this had been his plan all along. He knew that I would do anything for Reid, include give my blood in order for him to gain more power.

"I have to give it to him," I said and I was unsure if they had heard me.

"Wait, wait, wait," Caleb interjected loudly. "We can't just go in there blindly and let you give him your blood so he can become stronger. Then there will be no way to stop him if he tries to overtake us. He'll be stronger than all of us combined."

My eyes narrowed. "Well what else can we do, Caleb? Reid is out there and I know that he's being hurt. Chase won't wait much longer."

I could see in Caleb's eyes that he knew I was right.

"Maybe there's a way for you to connect with Chase," his mother piped up and all eyes went to her again. "Have you ever had certain types of dreams? Dreams that you can't explain?"

* * *

(Reid's POV)

_I opened my eyes to a bright white room. I looked around, noticing that even the curtains were white and the comforter and the armchair in the corner of the room. Where the hell was I?_

_I got up and pulled on a pair of white sweatpants, leaving my torso bare and I walked to the only door in the room. I quickly realized that I was in an unfamiliar house and everything was white and it gave me a headache.  
_

_The narrow hallway took me to a flight of white spiral stairs that I eased myself down. A wave of bacon hit my nostrils, filling up my senses with its delicious aroma. I followed the smell and finally came into the kitchen._

She_ was there._

_She was standing in front of the stove wearing nothing but what I could only assume was my white t-shirt. The fabric hung loosely around her body and fell to just below her ass, covering it indefinitely. She was humming to herself, her dark hair hanging down her back in thick waves that made me want to bury my hands into them and pull her to my body._

_I couldn't help but stare at her from behind, at the curves that I knew every inch of, the curves that I'd explored to the end and back, learning every flawless piece. I knew everything about this girl and she knew everything about me. I loved her._

_She finally turned and her green eyes landed on me and she immediately smiled, instantly making my morning even better. Her smile was like nothing I'd ever seen, she could light up the room in the darkest of nights. She had a bit of flour smeared across her cheek from the pancake batter and her hair in the front was disheveled from sleep._

_It was her imperfections that made her so utterly perfect. The flour on her cheek made her that much more attractive to me, that much more beautiful._

_She set the spatula down on the counter behind her and walked towards me slowly and I couldn't look away. She wrapped her arms around my neck and stood up on her toes in order to press a light kiss to my jaw._

_ "__Good morning sleepy head," she whispered against my skin and I involuntarily wrapped my arms around her thin waist, pulling her to me. "I've been waiting for you to get up."_

_I grinned down at her. "Why don't we go back to bed?" _

_She turned and looked at the stove. She wasn't even close to being done with cooking. "What about our breakfast?" she asked and then giggled and it sent a wave of contentment through my body. I could listen to that sound all day long._

_I glanced to the stove and then back at her before swooping down to capture her lips with mine. I kissed her softly, slowly, making sure to put every ounce of my love for her into it. I wanted her to know how I felt, to know that I couldn't live without her. She was the only thing keeping me alive._

_Before I could pick her up and carry her to the bedroom, everything started falling away – the stove, the table, the staircase. I held onto her as tight as I could, refusing to leave her. _

_I could feel myself slipping as everything around me seemed to fade._

_She was the only thing I could hold onto._

My eyes shot open and I realized that I was sweating. I was still sitting in the same chair I'd been in all day and I wasn't even sure what time it was. The last thing I remember was another round of Chase's torment and blacking out from the pain.

The dream was all too real to me. I could feel Callie's touch, could smell her shampoo as she pressed herself against my body. I yearned to be near her again.

I wasn't sure how long it would be until Chase returned, ready to inflict another round of power-draining spells onto me. None had been successful yet and I had tried to endure them without showing any pain but it was easier said than done. Every time he tried to take my powers from me forcefully it felt like someone had jammed their fist into my stomach and was trying rip my organs out of my body. My skin was on fire and I was drenched in sweat as I sat in the uncomfortable chair. The skin on my wrists was starting to chafe and bleed from the ropes that held me prisoner.

I'd never felt so completely weak before.I could barely keep my eyes open. My body was so exhausted, so utterly spent and all I wanted to do was go to sleep in a bed with pillows and a mattress.

I still had my cell phone and I knew the battery was dying. Chase had let me keep it and it seemed that it was just another one of his methods for torture. He told me that I could keep the phone and that I could call whoever I wanted but of course, he knew that I wouldn't. Calling anybody and telling them his location was a threat to Callie's safety. I knew that as soon as she caught wind of any kind of lead as to where I was, she'd come running. As much as I longed to see her again, I wasn't going to directly put her into harm's way for my own personal needs. If she came herself, that was her own decision and not one that I could blame myself for.

So all I could do was clutch it tightly in my hands and imagine Callie's voice was talking to me through the speaker.

_Reid. Everything's okay, Reid._

_We're figuring it out. We're coming to get you._

I was sure I was delusional from exhaustion. I could literally hear her voice as if it were in the same room with me.

_I'm not going to leave you, Reid. I promise. I will find you. _

I focused in on it as I closed my eyes again, letting the sweet sound of her soft voice lull me back into a restless sleep.

_I love you, Reid. I love you. I love you._

* * *

(Callie's POV)

Mrs. Danvers had suggested that I try to connect with Chase and maybe access his thoughts in any kind of way. I wasn't sure that I knew what to do, I wasn't even sure if I could do it but I knew I had to _try_. This might be the only way to save Reid and I was willing to do anything.

I had laid down on one of the couches upstairs in the living room while everyone dispersed about the house. Matt, Caleb and Mrs. Danvers stayed in the living room with me, Caleb's mom standing right near the sofa, close to my head.

I closed my eyes and rested my hands on my stomach, trying to get comfortable.

"So how exactly should I try to do this?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed.

"Just try to let go of everything else," Mrs. Danvers replied. "Try to imagine Chase in your mind and focus entirely on him."

I listened as I drowned out everything. I pushed Reid from my thoughts and Matt and my friends. I imagined the woods that Chase had taken me to and the red jacket that he had been wearing the last time I saw him. I imagined him standing in the center of the woods with the sadistic grin plastered on his face. I tried to get inside of his head but was rejected immediately.

"I can't get into his head, I can't hear his thoughts," I admitted, still keeping my eyes shut.

"Focus on_ him_, Callie," Caleb's mom told me softly. I was glad she was there to try and help me through this. "Try to see him as a brother and not as an enemy."

I nodded and swallowed as I settled back down. I focused on him and I focused on our bond. I imagined cutting open my hand and letting the blood drip out and watching his face light up in realization as he too, cut open the palm of his hand. I thought about our parents and how we would have grown up so differently if we hadn't been given up for adoption. I imagined him as a child and then myself and thought about how we could have played together and shared a childhood full of happy memories with our biological parents.

In my head, I reached out to him with my bloodied hand and he did the same and when our hands joined together, a flash of light exploded around us, overtaking us.

Suddenly, I could see inside of his head. I could see him as a child and how he actually looked compared to what I had imagined. Just a little curly haired, gangly kid with big blue eyes and a giant smile but was missing one of his front teeth. He was running around, chasing after a small puppy in a yard as a redheaded woman watched from the porch. The sound of a loud car invaded their ears and they looked to see a man with similar blue eyes pull up in his car. The boy ran to him and jumped into his waiting arms as the man peppered the boy's face with kisses.

The scene changed and he was in what looked like a library and he had a stack of books piled onto one of the tables. He was older now, probably in his early teens and he had grown taller but had kept the same curly hair and big blue eyes. He was scanning the books, flipping through pages furiously and jotting down little notes onto sheets of paper as he went. I looked harder to see at the top of the page was the name _PUTNAM_ which would have been the last name of our ancestor. Below it were the words, _witch? _and _adopted? _

This must have been around the time that he started to figure out that he had powers and that he was clearly part of something bigger than just the simple mundane life.

I couldn't believe this was happening. I was actually doing it, I was looking into Chase's mind. It was as if I were standing right there beside him, watching the memories unfold right in front of me, as if I had actually be there.

The scene changed again and this time I was standing before a car wreckage. The vehicle was flipped over, upside down in a ditch and the engine was caught on fire. Glass littered the pavement and I could see some blood reflecting off some of the broken pieces. I could hear the agonized screams of a man and woman who must have been trapped inside of the car and were burning to death by the flames. The sounds of fire whistles in the distance were growing nearer but I knew that by the time they got there it would be too late, the couple would already be dead.

Now I stood in front of Spenser Academy and I watched as the familiar people walked by. Flashes of the boys came to me, Caleb, Pogue, Tyler and then Reid. My image came into view and it lingered on me for a while and then it showed my sitting in my class, next to Hannah and Matt. It showed me unlocking the door to my bedroom and walking inside and then again walking into the Dells with Hannah.

A feeling of anger overtook me as the scene in front of me showed my playing beer pong with Reid and him hugging me after we beat Aaron Abbot. Must be I could feel his same emotions too.

I was walking through the woods now, the party wasn't over. I was following after a figure, a small but curvy person who looked incredibly familiar. Had Chase hooked up with someone that night at the Dells?

The person stopped and turned around, clearly realizing that they were being followed. They were clearly a girl. I heard muffled voices and then the other figure turned to start running but they didn't get very far. As I approached them and grabbed them by the arm, spinning them around, my heart dropped.

It was Hannah.

The fear in her eyes made my stomach churn. I could hear her labored breathing and I matched it with my own in that very moment. I watched as Hannah screamed and tried to run away again, only to be thrown to the ground. Tears streamed down my face and I wanted to call out to her but I couldn't find my voice.

I was so close to her now, hovering over her nearly limp form on the ground. I watched as her eyes glazed over as she stared up into my…._his_ eyes as the life drained from her body.

Chase had killed her. He'd killed my best friend.

Before I could snap out of it the scene changed yet again and this time it showed an old warehouse. It was worn down but still in pretty good shape. I'd seen it before, it was on the other side of town, just past the Putnam barn. There was a flash and then I could see Reid. He was tied to a chair and had some cuts and bruises on his face and arms and he was breathing heavily too and he called out in pain but he was alive. He was still alive.

I forced my eyes to open and realized that I was breathing heavily. The tears I had been crying in the visions had been real as my cheeks were wet and I sat up slowly. Matt, Caleb and Mrs. Danvers flocked to me and I tried to regain my breathing.

"_He _killed her," I said through my ragged breaths and sobs. I looked at Matt who stared back at me with wide eyes. "Chase killed Hannah."

Mrs. Danvers put her hands on my shoulders. "You saw into his head?"

I nodded and sniffed, trying yet again to calm my breathing. I knew that I had to be strong, I had to do this. We were so close now, we had the answer that we'd been looking for.

I looked up between the three of them and then met eyes with Caleb, holding his gaze. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to settle before I finally spoke.

"I know where Reid is."


End file.
